ro\ 


PATRIOTIC  DISCOURSE, 

I  DELIVERED    BY    THE 

At  the  Old  Church  in  Tarborough,  North-  Carolina,  on  Sunday,  the 
4TH  OF  3U&1T,  1S30. 

XIX  Chapter  of  Acts,  25th  verse:  "Whom  he  called  together,  with  -workmen  of  like 
occupation,  and  said  sirs,  ye  know  by  this  craft  we  have  our  wealth." 

My  audience:  this  day  is  the  memorable  fourth  of  July. ...a  day  long  to  be 
remembered  by  the  American  people.... the  day  when  the  citizens  of  young  A- 
merica  had  the  hardihood  and  patriotism,  in  the  face  of  the  sun  and  of  British 
armies,  to  declare  they  owed  no  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain.. ..the 
day  when  the  nerves  of  the  hearts  of  our  ancestors  were  strong  and  unyielding 
to  British  oppression,  though  they  knew  they  must  stake  their  all,  their  fortunes 
and  their  lives,  in  opposition  to  British  cruelty;  yet  their  ardor  and  courage  fail- 
ed them  not,  but  proclaimed  to  the  world  that  America  should  be  free  and  inde- 
pendent of  all  Kings  and  foreign  States  whatever,  and  make  her  own  laws,  or 
their  lives  should  be  a  sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  And  that  God,  who 
hates  robbery,  cruelty,  and  tyranny,  in  nations  as  well  as  individuals,  prospered 
their  cause  and  gave  success  to  their  arms,  to  the  joy  and  glory  of  America. 
And  we  are  this  day,  my  audience,  sitting  under  our  vines  and  fig  trees  and 
none  to  make  us  afraid,  as  the  effect  of  that  patriotic  blood  that  stained  roads, 
fields,  and  decks  of  ships,  fifty  years  ago,  from  the  feet  and  bosoms  of  our  suffer- 
ing forefathers.  I  would  then  this  day,  my  respectable  audience,  remind  you 
that  the  price  of  this  inestimable  jewel,  civil  and  religious  liberty, was  the  price 
of  blood. ..the  blood  of  long  forgotten  fathers,  who  purchaser!  this  jewel  for  us, 
their  children.  Then  for  heaven's  and  your  children's  sake,  don't  sell  it  for 
liquor  nor  barter  it  with  money-hunting  designing  priests.  Remember,  also, 
that  civil  and  religious  liberty  must  live  and  die  together;  for  hand  in  hand 
they  came  to  us  out  of  the  revolutionary  struggle... .and  I  would  further  remind 
you  that  nothing  but  blood  and  treasure  can  perpetuate  liberty  to  your  children; 
therefore,  be  watchful,  be  jealous  at  the  first  attempt  made  lo  attack  or  take  this 
prize  from  your  children,  and  rise  like  one  man,'  and  if  needs  be,  transmit  it  to 
them  at  the  first  cost.  And  as  we  all  enjoy  this  blessing  in  common,  every 
man  should  act  his  part  and  put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  to  perpetuate  this 
blessing  against  designing  usurping  tyrants,  whether  kings  or  priests.  And  as 
the  wise  man  said  there  is  a  time  for  all  things,  so,  since  the  establishing  of  in- 
dependence fifty  years  ago,  much  blood  and  treasure  have  been  lost  by  the  sons 
of  liberty  to  maintain  it,  during  the  space  it  has  been  enjoyed  by  us.  The  A- 
merican  statesmen  have  not  been  idle,  in  thought,  word,  pen  and  service  to  vie 
with  their  foreign  opponents;  our  soldiers  have  come  forward  to  act  their  part 
by  land  and  sea,  and  have  mingled  their  warm  crimson  fluid  with  their  enemies 
at  the  mouths  of  cannon  and  the  points  of  bayonets;  nor  are  our  officers  less,  but 
equally  or  more  praiseworthy*  because  of  the  action  of  both  body  and  mind  in 
opposition  to  their  opponents  in  the  field  and  on  the  sea.  And  what  shall  I  say  of 
old  Andrew,  who  taught  the  generals  of  European  pride,  not  to  dare  snatch  at 
the  pole  of  American  liberty,  for  while  in  the  attempt  he  plucked  their  laurels 
and  now  wears  them  in  his  crown.  Thus  from  the  President  to  the.  soldier  and 


the  sailor,  they  have  acted  a  noble,  a  bloody  and  an  honorable  part  to  support  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  proclaimed  on  this  memorable  day  by  our  fathers. 

But,  my  audience,  where  is  the  poor  priest  all  this  fifty  years?  While  these 
noble  patriots  have  been  struggling  through  blood  and  carnage,  and  political 
services  to  their  country,  to  defend  and  perpetuate  civil  liberty  to  themselves 
and  children,  in  comparison  of  whose  services  gold  is  but  as  sand,  they,  the 
priests,  are  aloof  from  war  and  from  the  halls  of  legislation  by  the  laws  of  their 
country.  Why,  are  they  drones  in  the  American  hive?  No,  my  audieqpe,  1 
only  view  them  as  held  in  reserve,  and  I  now  consider  the  time  come,  yea  fully 
come,  for  them  to  take  the  field  in  defence  of  religious  liberty,  at  the  risk  of  life 
and  blood;  then,  oh,  ye  idle,  independent  priests,  gird  on  armor,  helmet,  shield, 
and  sw7ord,and  come  forth  to  the  battle  of  religious  independence  against  usurping 
tyrannical  priests,  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  dearer  than  life  itself,  are  invaded; 
there  are  laurels  for  you,  and  the  liberty  of  conscience  of  your  children  is  at 
stake.  I  say  arise,  and  fight  \yith  tongue  and  pen  the  cause  of  religious  liberty, 
for  when  once  gone,  perhaps,  as  in  other  nations,  gone  for  ever.  For,  my  hear- 
ers, there  are  many  apparent  facts,  that  show  to  me  that  designing  priests  are 
endeavoring  to  bind  us  with  the  bands  of  spiritual  tyranny,  and  rivet  the  broken 
chains  of  British  priestcraft  on  us  and  our  children,  and  become  our  conscience 
keepers  and  purse  plunderers  as  in  days  of  yore,  any  thing  said  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  As  one  who  has  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  liberty  for  fifty  years, 
I  come  forward  and  stand  forth  to  help  my  fellow  citizens  in  this  common  cause 
of  liberty,  nor  will  I  yield  it  for  less  than  cost;  and  therefore,  now  call  your  at- 
tention to  my  text,  upon  which  I  shall  make  some  remarks,  to  show  you  how 
to  judge  rightly  in  this  matter. 

On  a  strict  examination  of  history,  it  will  be  found  that  all  religions,  whether 
heathen,  pagan,  Mahometan,  or  Christian,  are  founded  on  a  belief  of  certain 
tales,  whether  true  or  false;  with  an  injunction  of  certain  ceremonies  or  practices 
to  be  performed  by  the  believers  of  such  tales.  Then,  to  judge  of  the  truth  of 
any  religion  whatever,' we  have  only  to  judge  of  the  tale  that  is  told  and  the  ve- 
racity of  the  teller,  and  the  evidences  corroborating  the  whole  circumstance;  and 
whether  self-interest,  for  fame,  honor,  or  wealth,  is  connected  to  the  cause, as  the 
main  spring  of  action  to  the  practices  that  such  religion  enjoins  on  its  votaries. 

As  all  sects  profess  that  their  religion  is  from  above,  like  the  Ephesians.... 
what  man  is  there  that  knoweth  not  (said  the  Town  Clerk)  how  the  city  of  the 
Ephesians  is  a  worshipper  of  the  great  goddess  Diana,  and  of  the  image  which 
fell  down  from  Jupiter... mark  that. ...fell  down  from  Jupiter.  But  where  is  the 
evidence  on  which  this  priestly  tale  is  founded,  by  which  Demetrius  and  his 
crafty  gang  got  their  wealth  by  making  shrines  for  the  goddess  Diana?  Mark 
this  heathen  religion,  vyealth  to  the  craft  men;  therefore,  all  could  cry  out  for 
the  space  of  two  hours,  great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians. ..she  came  down  from 
Jupiter.  And  no  doubt  the  priests,  as  well  as  other  craft  men,  were  foremost 
and  loudest  in  the  mighty  cry,  until  the  whole  city  was  in  confusion,  because 
their  several  crafts  were  in  danger. 

I  shall  now  endeavor  merely  to  sketch  out,  my  hearers,  in  a  few  particulars, 
five  different  religions  that  have  been  established  in  the  world;  and  in  a  short 
way  examine  some  evidences  attending  them,  to  shew  the  difference  between  a 
true  and  a  false  religion. 

The  first  religion  that  I  shall  mention  is  the  religion  of  public  opinion,  no 
matter  what  may  be  its  creed,  form,  or.  ceremonies,  nor  whether  it  be  heathen, 
pagan,  or  Christian,  so  that  public  opinion  in  any  nation  gives  it  currency.  For 
it  is  but  too  well  known  that  public  opinion  governs  the  world,  and  not  individ- 
ual...and  though  oftener  wrong  than  right,  yet  because  of  that  force  which  cus* 


3 

torn  and  example  have  upon  the  human  mind,  there  is  an  itching  disposition  ia 
man  to  conform  and  be  like  other  people,  and  travel  the  road  of  public  opinion 
in  fashions  of  all  kinds,  religion  not  excepted.  Hence,  in  almost  every  nation 
we  find  a  different  religion,  propagated,  believed,  and  practiced,  and  thought  by 
its  votaries  to  be  the  best  in  the  world;  because  the  religion  of  antiquity  and  oi 
the  nation,  and  the  sect  of  which  they  are  members,  from  the  idolator  to  the 
Christian,  without  examining  by  some  proper  standard  impartially  for  them- 
selves, the  evidences  on  which  such  religion  is  predicated.  Thus  we  find  Abra- 
ham's family  served  other  gods,  beyond  the  river  Euphrates;  and  that  Rachel 
loved  her  father  Laban's  idol-gods  enough  to  steal  them.  The  Egyptians  wor- 
shipped a  pied  bull  ..in  imitation  of  which  Aaron  made  the  golden  calf,  and  Je- 
roboam the  two  golden  calves  at  Dan  and  Bethel;  with  a  great  variety  of  gods 
mentioned  in  scripture  as  well  as  in  heathen  mythology,  such  as  Baal,  Bell,  Baal- 
peor,  Baalherith,  Bemphim,  Nergal,  Nibhas,  Tamas,  Sheshach.  Nebo,  Nisroch, 
Meni,  Mahuzzam,  Asntoroth,  Succothbenotb,  and  Diana,  &c..and  in  fine,  their 
modes  of  worship  and  ceremonies  were  various  as  well  as  their  gods;  which  you 
can  know  by  comparing  the  worship  of  Moloch,  Dagon,  and  the  Babylonish 
eating  god;  while  they  also  worshipped  deceased  kings,  animals,  plants,  stones, 
sun,  moon,  stars,  anr^a  thousand  other  imaginary  gods,  according  to  their  fancy. 
Now  all  thesse  may  be  wrong,  but  all  cannot  be  right;  and  although  the  nations 
differed  in  names  of  gods,  modes  of  worship,  rites  and  ceremonies,  yet  public 
opinion  predominated  every  where,  and  led  captive  the  duped  multitude  from 
generation  to  generation.  And  although  they  differed  as  above  observed,  yet 
in  two  things  they  differed  not;  and  these  were,  each  sect  had  its  priests,  and 
the  priests  of  all  sects  made  a  craft  of  it.  Witness  Micah's  idol  priest,  who 
when  the  Dannites  promised  him  greater  wages  than  Micah  gave  him,  stole  his 
gods  and  away  with  them  for  a  more  plump  craft  from  the  Dannites... like  some 
of  our  modern  priests,  from  town  to  town  to  find  a  more  fat  craft.  We  may  add 
to  this  religion  of  public  opinion  that  of  Simon  Magus,  the  priest  of  Jupiter, 
conjurers,  soothsayers,  diviners,  astrologers,  necromancers,  charmers,  spellers, 
fortunetellers,  &c.  nearly  all  of  which  rest  on  some  novel,  mysterious,  priestl)r 
tale,  or  false  shews  and  say  soes,  of  those  that  make  a  craft  of  their  art  on  duped 
devotees.  And  thus  every  stratagem  of  hypocrisy  and  duplicity,  is  made  and 
has  been  made  use  of  by  priests  and  others  to  impose  on  the  strong,  the  weak, 
and  the  credulous,  to  rivet  their  crafts  to  get  their  wealth  like  Demetrius  by 
shrine  making;  so  that  we  see  all  hands  in  false  religions  make  a  craft  of  it,  from 
the  priest  to  the  lying  fortuneteller. 

Now  I  ask,  by  what  means  have  all  these  different  religions  and  cheating  arts 
been  established  in  the  different  nations  of  the  earth?  J  answer,  I  believe  that  man 
was  made  and  is  born  a  religious  being,  and  that  he  cannot  reconcile  himself  to  live 
and  die  without  a  ground  of  hope,  whether  true  or  false,  to  satisfy  his  conscience 
before  the  judge  of  futurity....  if  a  true  hope  it  is  attended  with  fears;  if  a  false 
hope,  if  it  is  the  best  he  knows,  it  is  to  him  as  if  true,  because  he  knows  no  bet- 
ter ground  of  hope,  and  therefore,  it  answers  his  present  purpose  in  some  good 
degree.  Secondly,  I  think  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  nation  to  exist,  and  gov- 
ernment to  be  administered  in  it,  without  some  form  of  religion  as  a  band  to  tie 
society  together;  and  the  best  religion  man  knows  he  takes  hold  of,  for  refuge  to 
his  trembling  soul.  Thirdly,  because  by  the  fall  of  the  first  man  he  lost  his  God 
and  the  true  knowledge  of  him,  and  become  vain  in  his  imagination,  and  his 
foolish  heart  darkened;  and  therefore  he  has  been  so  easily  imposed  on,  and 
worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  creator.  The  making  of  idol 
gods  became  a  great  craft  of  wealth,  the  attendant  priests  on  these  deaf  and 
dumb  deities  made  a  great  craft  pf  oracles,  &c,...in  a  word,  the  whole  worship  of 


4 

idols  was  a  craft  of  gain  to  the  various  officers  of  the  craft,  from  the  idol  maker 
to  the  shrine  seller.  Jeroboam  had  his  craft  for  sitting  up  the  two  golden  calves 
at  Dan  and  Bethel;  and  that  was,  to  maintain  his  crown  and  gel  his  wealth  out 
of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  Nebuchadnezzar,  Balaam,  Judas,  Simon  Magus,  Ga- 
hariah,  Micah's  priest,  and  all  witches,  conjurers,  fortune  tellers,  &c.  have  their 
several  forms  of  ceremony  and  religious  cheats  as  a  craft  for  gain;  and  so  all  of 
the  same  craft  may  be  expected  to  be  called  together,  lest  the  temple  of  Diana 
should  be  despised  and  her  magnificence  destroyed  whom  all  Asia  and  the  world 
worshippeth.  What  a  pity  that  a  goddess  of  such  antiquity  and  high  venera- 
tion, should,  by  such  pestilent  fellows  as  Paul  and  his  comrades,  be  set  at  naught 
....ye  craft  men  come  together.. ..ye  men  of  Israel  help.. ..ye  Congressmen  help, 
our  craft  is  in  danger. 

If  we  examine  the  Bible  for  marks  of  a  false  prophet,  teacher,  or  preacher, 
we  shall  find  these  as  unchangeable  marks  given  throughout  the  scriptures.. .gain 
by  godliness.. ..greedy  of  filthy  lucre.. .the  fleece  and  not  the  flock. ..or,  craft  by 
their  religion;  and  every  false  religion  introduced  into  the  world? .  has  these 
marks  of  craft  engraven  on  it,  from  the  idolatrous  to  the  metamorphosed  Chris- 
tian religion;  and  is  made  by  its  priests  a  craft  of  gain,  honor  and  applause,  ex- 
cept the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  not  a  religion  of  craft.  Witness,  Si- 
mon Magus,  trying  to  buy  the  Holy  Ghost  of  Peter,  to  form  a  new  craft,  after 
the  preaching  of  the  apostles  had  broken  his  former  craft  on  the  people.  Wit- 
ness, the  damsel  by  the  craft  of  soothsaying  brought  her  master  much  gain. 
Witness,,  the  craft  of  Jezebel's  prophets,  and  the  prophets  of  Baal,  always  pro- 
phecyinggood  things  concerning  wicked  Ahab,  that  they  might  have  the  favor 
of  the  king  and  fare  sumptuously  at  Queen  Jezebel's  table.  Witness,  Balaam, 
under  the  craft  of  sacrifices,  divining  to  find  out  the  mind  of  God  to  curse  Israel 
lo  get  Balaak's  promised  silver  and  greatness.  Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of 
the  craft  of  Judas  the  purse  bearer;  of  Gahariah,  who  made  a  craft  of  the  mira- 
cle of  his  master;  of  those  that  followed  for  the  loaves  and  fishes;  and  all  the  de- 
ceptive crafts,  fortunetelling  not  excepted,  for  gain  or  wealth. 

I  shall  then  say,  that  all  false  religions,  of  whatever  sort,  that  have  been  in- 
troduced into  the  world,  have  been  founded  on  some  mysterious,  novel,  deceiv- 
ing tales,  under  the  garb  of  virtue,  and  by  certain  false  shews  without  evidence, 
founded  on  facts  of  sense  or  miracles  done  in  the  presence  of  eye  and  ear  wit- 
nesses to  confirm  the  truth  thereof,  have  this  mark,  craft.. ..from  Sechem,  who 
would  be  circumcised  to  get  Dinah  and  Jacob's  cattle,  up  to  the  missionary  beg- 
gar; and  have  only  been  religion  in  masquerade,  imposed  on  the  credulous,  and 
gained  strength  in  process  of  time  by  the  cunning,  art,  and  stratagem  of  priests, 
and  established  itself  by  public  opinion  on  succeeding  generations.  And  there 
is  as  much  danger  in  opposing  public  opinion,  however  vague  and  unscriptural, 
in  the  country  where  such  public  opinion  reigns,  as  there  was  for  Paul  to  say  a 
word  against  the  goddess  Diana;  for  one  reason  only,  the  priesti'  craft  is  in  dan- 
ger, therefore  such  a  tumultuous  uproar  is  made  on  the  man  that  dares  question 
public  opinion.  , 

It  is  easy  to  see,  by  referring  to  the  scriptures,  that  this  whole  train  of  idola- 
trous worship  and  religious  cheats,  was  and  is  copied  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testament... from  God's  having  sent  prophets  into  the  world,  diviners  and  for- 
tunetellers have  arisen;  the  oracles  of  idol  temples  are  in  imitation  of  consulting 
the  Jewish  high  priest  with  his  urim  and  thummim;  and  the  craft  of  priests  for 
gain,  from  the  tithes  paid  to  the  Jewish  high  priest.. .and  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  laborer  is  worthy  of  His  meat,  ministers  in  this  day  set  up  their  claim 
as  a  right  to  their  craft  of  gain  by  their  preaching.  But  it  is  plain,  by  referring 
to  the  scriptures,  that  all  these  religious  erafts  are  of  the  devil*   transformed^. 


5 

after  the  fashion  of  God's  ways,  to  deceive  and  ruin  the  souls  of  men;  for  the 
devil  has  his  temples,  his  oracJes,  his  priests,  his  sacrifices,  his  rites,  his  cere- 
monies, his  baptism,  his  altars,  his  saints,  his  prophets,  his  transformed  minis- 
ters, as  well  as  God.  But  there  is  as  wide  a  difference  between  the  two  as  God 
and  the  devil,  or  heaven  and  hell,  or  this  world  and  that  which  is  to  come;  and 
this  difference  lies  all  in  this  one  mark. ...craft.. ..or  running  greedily  after  the 
error  of  Balaam,  or  supposing  gain  is  godliness.. .from  such  turn  away,  for  they 
are  the  ministers  of  the  devil.  This  is  a  mere  sketch  of  crafts  of  times  of  old, 
in  various  forms  by  priests  and  others  under  the  sanctity  of  religion  imposed, 
enforced,  engrafted  and  maintained  by  cheat,  fraud,  guile,  and  hypocrisy;  and 
fastened  by  public  opinion,  custom,  example  and  teaching,  on  rising  youth  from 
age  to  age  to  revere  the  holy  sanctified  priest  and  the  religion  of  their  ances- 
tors, though  they  be  of  the  devil's  making  and  have  been  blood  suckers  on  earth. 
And  craft  men  love  to  have  it  so,  or  else  they  lose  their  gain  and  Demetrius  his 
wealth  by  shrine  making.  Hence  all  of  the  same  craft  may  be  expected  to  unite 
against  gospel  truth,  which  if  admitted,  overturns  to  the  very  foundation  all 
priest  craft;  then  no  wonder  to  hear  the  craft  men  roar  out  from  pulpit  and 
press,  you  ought  not  to  oppose  us,  our  cause  is  God's  cause;  you  ought  to  throw 
your  money  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  to  help  the  Lord  convert  the  heathen ; 
you  are  an  infidel,  yea  a  devil  if  you  don't.. ..when  the  cause  is  men's  cause,  to 
say  the  least  of  it;  and  the  treasury,  the  treasury  of  craft  men,  to  get  money  out 
of  the  pockets  of  honest  men,  children,  widows,  negroes,  and  Indians,  to  en- 
able craft  men  to  live  in  idleness  and  luxury  on  the  labor  of  others.  But,  said 
Paul  to  his  brethren,  these  hands  have  administered  to  my  necessities,  and  I 
have  shewed  you  all  things  how  that  so  laboring  you  ought  to  support  the  weak, 
&c.  Thus  I  must  leave  you,  my  hearers,  to  compare  this  mere  sketch  of  crafts 
of  ancient  times  with  the  crafts  of  this  day,  if  any  can  be  found. 

The  second  religion  of  crafts  that  I  shall  notice,  is  a  religion  established  by 
the  laws  of  men....  by  the  laws  of  kings,  states,  or  nations... so  as  to  compel  men 
under  certain  penalties,  whether  agreeable  to  their  conscience  or  not,  to  believ© 
and  practice  certain  articles  of  faith,  swear  to  support  them,  or  be  compelled  by 
law  to  conform  to  a  national  form  of  worship,  sacred  rites,  ceremonies,  dues  to 
priests,  &c.  Whether  the  majority  or  the  minority  have  given  their  sanction  to 
such  a  law,  matters  not;  for  to  prove  the  validity  of  such  a  law  of  pains  and 
penalties  to  make  men  conform  to  modes  of  worship,  or  be  of  one  mind  in  mat- 
ters of  religion,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is  the  resort  of 
craft  men  to  force  their  wealth  from  the  pockets  of  their  neighbors.  Hence 
la\^  religion  is  one  of  the  priests'  craft  for  wealth;  by  them  i1  has  been  perpetu- 
ated in  the  nations  of  the  earth  with  cruelty,  and  is  a  bloody  craft.. ..yea,  tyhe 
blood  of  saints  has  never  yet  satisfied  the  greedy  stomachs  of  these  sort  of  blood 
hounds. 

The  first  established  religion  that  strikes  my  mind,  is  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
the  king  of  Babylon,  who  commanded  all  men  under  the  pain  and  penalty  of 
the  fiery  furnace,  to  fall  down  and  worship  the  idol  image  he  had  set  up  in  the 
plains  of  Dura.  But  there  were. three  men  in  his  kingdom,  Shadrach,  Meshach, 
and  Abednego,  whose  consciences  would  not  let  them  do  so,  and  who  thought 
different  from  the  king  and  the  crowd  of  his  subjects;  though  I  am  persuaded  he. 
had  not  more  loyal  subjects  in  his  kingdom,  because  one  conscience  subject  is 
worth  five  purse  subjects.  Now  is  there  any  man  in  the  world  that  will  say  this 
law  was  right?  Will  any  man  say  that  the  king  and  his  counsellors  should  dic- 
tate to  the  consciences  of  others?  Will  any  man  say  the  king  shall  prescribe 
the  duty  of  the  creature  to  his  creator,  and  be  judge  of  other  men's  consciences 
ig,  matters  of  religion?     Will  any  say  that  a  man  is  to  pay  a  fine,  be  imprisoned, 


a 

have  his  goods  confiscated,  or  be  burned  in  a  fiery  furnace,  because  he  cannot  see 
out  ofother  peoples'  eyes,  or  believe  like  others?  How  foolish,  absurd  and  vain. 
The  case  of  Daniel  is  one  of  the  same  sort.. .under  penalty  of  the  lions'  den.  If 
cuch  men  there  be  that  will  say  yes,  the  whole  narrative  proves,  by  these  exam- 
ples of  God's  interference  for  the  deliverance  of  the  oppressed  consciences  of 
his  servants,  that  such  a  law  established  religion  is  wrong  and  contrary  to  the 
divine  mind,  unless  it  can  be  proved  that  the  magistrate  is  a  competent  judge 
of  religious  truth. ...an  opinion  falsified  in  these  circumstances,  and  abundantly 
falsified  by  the  rulers  of  all  nations  who  have  undertaken  to  establish  law  reli- 
gion....by  so  doing  they  mis^s  the  mark,  and  establish  a  craft,  and  support  hypo- 
crisy, robbery,  and  bloody  cruelty  on  the  earth;  and  shew  us  very  plainly  that 
a  man  may  oppose,  and  has  a  right  to  oppose,  all  law  religion  in  matters  of  con- 
spience,  and  that  God  is  on  his  side.  But  perhaps  you  will  say  they  had  a  right 
to  oppose,  because  the  king  required  them  to  be  idolators.  I  answer,  that  kings 
or  states  establishing  any  set  form  of  worship,  or  prescribing  limitation  of  con- 
science, is  just  the  same;  ~and  that  the  conscientious  may  resist  the  authority  of 
kings  or  states  with  a  good  conscience,  and  in  so  doing  fi^ht  the  battle  of  God 
and  contend  for  the  inalienable  rights  of  freemen  against  such  usurpers  of  the 
dominion  of  God.  For  all  statesmen  who  aid  and  abet  in  the  establishment  of 
any  law  religion  are  enemies  of  God  and  to  the  rights  of  freemen;  and  are  lay- 
ing claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  God,  to  dictate  for  God  what  shall  be  the  homage 
paid  by  the  creature  to  his  creator;  and  thus  make  their  own  conscience  the 
standard  of  others,  and  set  up  an  image  of  their  own  making  and  compel  others 
by  law  to  bow  thereto  under  pains  and  penalties  always  severe.  Oh,  cursed 
fraud!  since  all  true  religion  must  be  a  voluntary  offering  of  the  heart  to  the  su- 
preme creator  of  the  universe,  to  whom  man  is  first  bound  in  duty  as  his  con- 
science may  dictate  to  him.  Then  law  religion  only  supports  a  craft  of  priests 
and  tyrants  on  earth  for  gain,  and  the  blood  that  has  been  shed  under  such  laws 
has  been  innocent  blood,  and  the  law  makers  of  religious  establishments  are  wil- 
ful and  premeditated  murderers,,  and  are  accessaries  before  the  fact  to  the  mur- 
ders committed.  For  if  the  fiery  furnace  had  burnt  those  three  men,. and  the 
lions  had  eaten  Daniel,  would  you  not  have  said,  innocent  blood  shed  by  usurp- 
ed powejf  and  unlawful  right;  for  which  I  say,  the  king,  by  the  law  of  justice 
af  d  the  rights  and  equality  of  man,  should  have  died  as  a  murderer.  I  might 
name  many  more  of  the  same  sort,  but  must  pass  them  by. 

We  shall  next  notice  the  established  Christian  religion.. ..turned  from  its  sim- 
plicity and  virgin  beauty  into  a  craft.  For  three  hundeed  years,  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  stood  and  flourished  without  line  aid  of  schools,  laws,  or  help  of 
kings  or  magistrates...  and  in  spite  of  them  all,  and  in  opposition  to  all,  bore  down 
all  before  it,  commending  itself  to  the  consciences  of  men  during  this  time,as  not 
being  a  craft  of  priests.  But  in  the  year  323,  Constantine  undertook  to  protect 
and  defend  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  established  it  by  law;  enjoining  the 
Christian  sabbath,  salaries  to  ministers,  &c.  And  now  we  might  suppose  this 
established  law  religion  was  right  and  could  do  no  harm..  ..for  what  harm  could 
there  be  in  compelling  men' to  do  right  by  the  laws  of  government.  I  say  this 
law  was  wrong....  first,  because  there  is  not,  nor. can  be,  such  a  thing  as  true  re- 
ligion by  compulsion;  bat  it  is  voluntary  and  of  free  will.  Secondly,  true  reli- 
gion is  the  gift  of  God;  and  therefore,  no  man  is  to  suffer  in  his  person  or  goods, 
because  he  does  not  nor  cannot  possess  this  gift;  hence  law  religion  is  altogether 
founded  in  self  righteousness  andcraft:  Thirdly,  because  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  disavows  iti  every  page  of  it  a  dependence  on  the  power,  wisdom  antf 
•wealth  of  this  world  for  its  support,  and  stood  and  flourished  when  all  these 
opposed;  and  it  cannot  be  the  duty  of  statesmen  to  support   that  which  disowns 


.7 

all  «eed  of  support.  Fourthly,  an  established  religion  opens'"*  door  to  a  craft, 
to  corrupt  men  and  of  course  a  corrupt  ministry,  and  thence  a  corrupt  doctrine, 
corrupt  ordinances,  corrupt  discipline,  corrupt  members,  and  corrupt  prac- 
tices, &c.  And  hence  from  this  one  wrong  step  in  establishing  even  the 
true  religion  by  law,  a  door  was  opened  for  crafts  men  of  many  kinds;  while 
as  a  judgment  from  God,  in  the  first  instance  followed  cruelly  and  blood,  and 
crafts  men  arose  by  thousands,  such  as  bishops,  arch-bishops,  patriarchs,  ex- 
archs, metropolitans,  suffragan^;  popes,  cardinals,  monks,  nuns,  synods,  coun- 
cils, anathemas,  dungeons,  gibbets,  flames  and  death.. ..all  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  good  of  the  church.  But  take  notice,  there  was  a  craft  at  the  bottom  of 
all  these  titles... .and  thus  the  true  religion  became  a  religion  of  crafts  men,  from. 
the  Pope  to  the  monk,  by  weaving  it  with  state  policy,  and  was  no  longer  'he 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  because  removed  by  crafts  men  from  the  pedestal  on 
which  he  first  set  it.  True  religion  is  the  greatest  blessing  on  earth;  but,  when 
interwoven  with  state  policy,  the  greatest  curse  and  mother  of  cruelties.  And 
how  many  times  has  the  Pope  called  his  craft  men  together,  like  Demetrius  of 
old,  and  said  sirs,,  you  know  by  these  our  crafts  we  have  our  wealth.. ..hence  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  was  a  religion  of  crafts  for  gain,  honor,  power  and  state 
influence.  Then  as  soon  as  even  the  true  religion  became  established  by  law,  it 
was  no  longer  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  a  popish  and  a  Demetrius  priest 
craft.  Oh,  how  crafty  are  priests  to  get  money..  ..lawyers  live  by  the  folly  of 
men,  physicians  by  the  diseases  of  men,  but  crafty  priests  live  and  roll  in  idle 
luxury  on  the  vices  of  ignorant  men,  who  submit  to  them  to  be  their  conscience 
keepers  and  pay  them  for  a  passport  to  heaven,  when  the  king's  highway  is  free 
for  all  that  may  choose  to  walk  therein. 

We  shall  next  notice  the  crafts  of  this  law  religion.  And  first  the  craft  of 
titles  has  in  part  been  given  you  above,,  from  the  Pope  to  the  monk;  of  which 
titles  of  craft  the  New  Testament  has  no  account  in  it  as  all  may  see  that  choose 
to  examine.  Secondly,  the  craft  of  gain,  like  Demetrius',  was  the  craft  of  sell- 
ing to  sinners  indulgences  in  their  lust  at  fixed  prices  by  the  laws  of  the  Pope, 
and  not  by  the  laws  of  Jesus  Christ;  such  as  the  following  prices. ...for  killing  a 
father,  1  ducat  5  carlins;  for  the  lewdness  of  a  clerk,  36  tournois  3  ducats;  for 
him  that  wants  to  keep  a  concubine,  21  tournois  5  ducats  9  carlins.  Oh,  devil- 
ish priest  craft... .and  further,  these  indulgences  could  not  be  granted  to  the  poor, 
who  had  no  money  to  buy  their  fleshly  enjoyments.  This  was  a  priest  craft 
contrary  to  reason,  right,  modesty,  decency,  chastity,  honor,  virtue,  God,  scrip- 
ture, peace,  good  breeding  and  good  sense,  yet  thousands  were  duped  by  it,  so 
that  Friar  Sampson  sold  and  collected  by  this  selling  craft  in  Switzerland  alone 
to  the  amount  of  120,000  crowns;  and  if  the  like  was  done  in  all  the  countries 
over  which  the  chief  craftman  presided,  I  shall  say  this  was  a  gaining,  fat  craft 
....as  good  a  craft  as  the  chieftain  in  missionary  craft  of  the  present  day. 

A  third  craft  was  to  sell  the  pardon  of  past  sins.. ..and  this  was  a  gainful  craft, 
for  as  much  as  rich  sinners  would  find  it  more  easy  to  pay  their  monev  than  re- 
pent of  their  sins.. ..so  no  doubt  this  was  a  gainful  craft,  like  that  of  Demetrius, 
that  brought  much  wealth  to  the  craft  men;  or,  like  the  soothsaying  damsel  to 
her  master.... yet  the  Pope,  like  Demetrius,  fearing  that  a  poor  Luther,  like  Paul 
at  Ephesus,  would  endanger  his  craft,  sent  his  detestable  pardon  sellers  to  cry 
aloud  in  almost  every  country  the  Pope's  power  to  forgive  sinners,  and  thus  car- 
ried on  his  craft  like  the  missionaries,  by  runners,  and  like  them  paid  for  servi- 
j  ees,  men  of  craft  dividing  the  spoil. 

|,  A  fourth  craft  of  popish  priests  was  to  pray  souls  out  of  purgatory.. ..they  had, 
i  so  much  for  Tom,  and  so  much  for  Dick,  but  the  price  always  depended  on  the 
'  pches  of  the  decease^  or  their  relatives';  and  this  brought  much  gain  to  the  craft 


8 
men.  But  as  for  the  poor,  who  had  nothing  to  pay,  or  died  insolvent,  they 
might  climb  the  wall  of  purgatory  if  they  could,  for  no  priests  would  help  them 
out  without  money.. ..and  it  is  much  so  now  with  the  craft  of  missions;  the  mis- 
sionary will  not  preach  to  the  heathen  and  many  others,  or  help  get  these  poor 
creatures  out  of  hell,  without  money.  What  a  likeness  of  getting  souls  out  of 
purgatory  by  mone}',  and  the  heathen  out  of  hell  by  money....  I  say  priest  craft... 
my  hearers,  what  say  you? 

Time  would  fail  me  to  pursue  the  various  crafts  in  the  Romish  church  for  ti- 
tles, purse  and  power... .be  it  sufficient  to  say,  that  even  the  establishment  of  the 
true  religion  by  law,  metamorphosed  gospel  ministers  to  state  pensioners,  cruel 
blood  suckers,  tyrannical  craft  men,  and  grandees  on  the  laboring  part  of  the 
community.... lit  up  fires  to  roast  human  flesh,  made  weeping  widows  and 
orphans,  builded  prisons,  confiscated  goods,  and  covered  the  fields  of  Europe  in 
blood.  Yea,  how  many  millions  of  lives  law  religion  has  sacrificed  to  the  demon 
of  priest  craft,  can  only  be  known  when  God  the  righteous  judge  shall  make 
inquisition  for  blood.  Then  let  the  American  States  beware  how  they  meddle 
with  the  most  distant  species  of  law  religion,  lest  they  again  unchain  these 
blood  hounds,  craft  men  by  trade. 

We  shall  next  notice  the  High  Church  of  England,  as  a  law  established  craft. 
This  craft  was  founded  by  the  amorous  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  about  the  year 
1520.. ..a  prince  who  for  vices  was  not  surpassed  by  any  prince  of  his  age.  And 
because  the  Pope  would  not  grant  him  a  divorce  from  his  wife,  he  renounced 
the  old  man  of  crafts,  and  was  declared  by  the  parliament  and  people  of  Eng- 
land supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  church  of  England... .hence  you  see  king  craft 
in  the  outset,  and  that  was  to  get  a  new  wife.  Secondly,  Henry  put  down  more 
than  a  thousand  popish  religious  houses,  and  seized  on  their  property  to  the 
amount  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  pounds  yearly.... here  you  see 
craftagain  for  money.  And  thus  he  proceeded  to  fit  up  a  new  fashion  of  crafts; 
but  as  lonly  intend  a  mere  sketch  of  crafts,  I  shall  proceed. ...From  the  best  ac- 
counts I  can  recollect  from  history,  there  were  many  years  ago  18,000  clergymen 
in  England  and  Wales,  of  this  law  religious  craft;  and  no  doubt  the  craft  men 
have  greatly  multiplied  in  number,  since  David  Simpson  left  that  cor- 
rupt establishment,  and  refused  like  an  honest  man  any  longer  to  practice  the 
craft  among  them,  and  has  given  us  a  short  account  of  it  as  follows.... there  are 
twenty-six  bishops  whose  annual  craft  is  $40S,8S8  90;*  when  divided  makes 
each  craft  man's  share  Si 5,726  50;  such  a  fat  craft  as  this  is  enough  to  make  a 
Jew  laugh.  Well  may  these  craft  men  ride  in  their  carriages  about  the  coun- 
try  like  kings,  and  hire  others  to   preach  for   them;   well  may  they  be  called 

*From  the  European  Magazine  of  18 17,  Benedick's  History  of  all  religions,  and  other 
documents  recently  come  into  my  possession,  it  appears  that  the  annual  income  of  the 
Bishops  of  England  is  as  follows: 


Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  $88,800 

Bishop  of  Durham,         -  -  94,560 

Bishop  of  York,     -        -  -  6?,  160 

Bishop  of  Winchester,  -  -  79,920 

Bishop  of  Ely,       -    .    -  -  53,280 

Bishop  of  London,          -  -  39,960 

Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  -  22,200 

Bishop  of  Chichester,    -  -  17,700 
Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry,  22,200 


Bishcp  of  Worcester, 
Bishop  of  Hereford, 
Bishop  of  Bangor, 
Bishop  of  Oxford, 
Bishop  of  Asiph, 


17,760 
21,756 
22,200 
33,320 
2.6,640 


Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
Bishop  of  Salisbury, 
Bishop  of  Norwich, 
Bishop  of  Carlisle, 
Bishop  of  St.  David's,    - 
Bishop  of  Rochester, 
Bishop  of  Exeter, 
Bishop  of  Peterborough, 
Bishop  of  Bristol, 
Bishop  of  Landaff*, 
Bishop  of  Gloucester,    - 
Bishop  of  Chester, 


$22,200 

26,640 

17,760 

15,540 

22,200 

6,660 

13,320 

4,440 

4,440 

3,396 

5,328 

4,440 


Total,  per  year,  for  26  Bishops,  $719,800' 


9 

lords  spiritual,  support  my  lord  John  Bull  in  his  tyranny,  and  sing  and  dance 
the  tunes  of  Parliament  for  such  plum  puddings  as  these....  who  would  not  turn 
the  spit,  roast  the  beef,  swear  to  the  liturgy,  support  the  crown,  and  sell  his  con- 
science for  such  a  fat  craft  as  this,  and  go  to  hell  if  needs  it  must  be  in  the  bargain. 
There  is  a  mighty  gang  of  craft  men  besides  priests  in  this  establishment.. ..for 
there  are  28  cathedrals,  26  deans,  60  arch-deacons,  554  prebends,  canons,  &c... 
besides  these  there  are  about  3000  in  orders,  900  lay  officers,  singing  men,  organ- 
ists, &c....this  band  of  craft  men  amounts  to  36,000,  and  at  that  time  the  whole 
income  of  the  craft  was  $6,666, 666  67.... so  much  for  law  craft,  for  laboring  far- 
mers and  mechanics  to  maintain  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows.  All  these  36,000 
craft  men  are  of  like  occupation,  and  if  called  together  what  can't  they  do;  they 
can  and  will  keep  the  galling  yoke  of  tithes,  oppression  and  poverty  upon  the 
people  of  England;  and  the  farmers  and  mechanics  must  maintain  these 
men-made  tyrants  in  luxury  and  pride,  hellward.  Don't  think  me  harsh, 
for  if  you  could  hear  the  groans  of  the  poor  laborers  of  England  and  the  cries  of 
their  wives  and  children  for  bread  and  clothes,  you  would  be  of  another  mind. 
Then  lake  care  of  your  priests,  for  all  of  the  same  craft  may  be  expected  to  sing 
and  dance  the  same  tune,  and  pull  the  same  string  for  wealth  by  their  several 
crafts,  for  they  are  all  of  the  same  gang.  If  a  priest  looks  for  gain  from  his  re- 
ligion, he  is  a  craft  man  and  may  call  Demetrius  brother.  It  is  as  plain  as  a,  b, 
thai  self-interest  will  bind  the  whole  band  of  craft  men  together,  from  genera- 
tion to  generation;  and  thus  the  people  of  England  and  Wales  must  expect  to 
wear  the  yoke  of  oppression  so  long  as  theological  schools  keep  going  on.  And 
this  is  one  of  the  great  curses  of  theological  schools... to  make  craft  men  to  ty- 
rannise, oppress,  and  suck  the  purses  and  the  blood  of  men;  for  in  all  countries 
where  these  factories  have  been  set  going,  priestcraft  and  oppression  are  reign- 
ing predominant,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  until  they  are  stopped;  for  no  sect 
can  exist  without  priests,  so  the  more  priests  the  more  force,  until  they  ride 
rough  shod  over  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  establish  their  craft  of  gain. 
And  in  my  opinion,  theological  schools  in  multiplying  ungodly  priests  are  rap- 
idly hurrying  Americans  to  the  yoke  of  oppressed  civil  and  religious  liberty.,,, 
this  is  my  rule  to  go  by. ...same  cause  same  effect  is  but  sound  philosophy.  Oh, 
that  I  had  a  voice  like  thunder,  I  would  speak  to  every  American  to  stop,  pause 
and  think.. ..think  what  theological  schools,  priestly  influence,  and  law  religion 
have  brought  other  nations  to... .and  when  priestly  influence  once  gets  the  yoke 
of  tithes  on  your  necks,  their  money  and  influence  will  hold  it  there....farewell, 
civil  and  religious  liberty. ...labor,  poor  farmer.. ..toil,  poor  mechanic. ..to  riot  in 
luxury  blind  guides.  It  appears  to  me  very  plainly,  that  the  present  movements 
of  the  priests  are  like  a  man  breaking  a  yoke  of  oxen.. ..first  to  coax  them  gently 
....then  the  rope....  then  coax,  rub,  feed  and  stroke... .then  the  yoke.. ..then  gently 
the  cart.. .then  a  light  load. ...then  as  much  as  they  can  bear.. ..then  more.. .galled 
pecks  or  not,  go  they  must,  or  the  whip  they  must  have  without  mercy  or  com- 
passion. '  Just  so  are  the  priests  doing. ...Oh,  ye  sons  of  libert)7,  ye  children  of 
wild  oxen  independence,  to  rove  where  you  please  and  graze  on  the  pastures  of 
happiness  according  to  your  own  liking,  they  are  coaxing,  persuading,  begging, 
and  putting-on  the  yoke  and  cart,  by  large  sums  of  money,  theological  and  sun- 
day  schools,  combined  with  the  press  and  priestly  influence. .;. and  I  tel!  you, 
these  worms  will  cut  the  root  of  our  independence,  and  if  they  get  law  on  their 
side,  they  will  load  the  cart  with  tithes  to  the  galling  of  your  hearts... .and  you, 
must  go,  or  pop  goes  the  whip. 

If  you  will  take  the  spy-glass  of  church  history,  you  can  see  the  effect  of  law 
religious  craft.... see  a  Bunyan  groaning  in  prison  twelve  years,  and  a  Rogers  led 
to  the  flames  with  a  heart  ready  to  burst  with  grief,   and    nine  loving  children 


10 

weeping,  wilh  a  wife  following  in  anguish  of  soul  to  behold  Iho  funeral  pile  la 
burn  their  only  stay  and  comfort  of  life.. .oh,  dreadful  sight!     See  the  poor  qua- 
Iters  banished,  whipped,  imprisoned  and  hurtg,  in    New-England.     Seethe  bap- 
T  list  ministers  in  Virginia  fined,   imprisoned,  and   whipped    like  slaves.... all  this 
and  ten  thousand  times  as  much  more,  came  by  law-stimulating  craft  men.    Oh, 
heavens!  what  a  monster  is  a  covetous  priest  when  he  can  have   law  on  his  side 
to  support  his  craft;  he  is  without  feeling,  he  can   hear  the  cries  of   weeping  wi- 
dows and  children  for    bread,  when    he    has    the   means   of  taking  out  of  the 
world  the  kind  father  that  might  have  given  it  to  them,  and  yet   his  heart  be  set 
on  wealth  by  his  craft.     Oh,  hellish  monster  law-craft!  never  show  your  bloody 
garments  in  America,  since  revolutionary  patriotism  has  driven   you    from  our 
shores.     Then,  Americans,   beware   of  law  religion. ..beware    of  craft  men  in 
sheep's  clothing.. ..beware  of  their  calling  all  their  craft  men  together,  and  mak- 
ing a  dead  set  on  Congress  to  establish    their  craft  by  law    for  gain. ...then    for 
blood.     Oh,  let  the  tears  of  widows  and  children,  the  groans  of  prisoners,  and 
the  bloody  beacons  that  stand  on  the  coasts  of  other  nations,   warn  Congress  of 
any  kind  of  law  religion,  no  matter  how  foreign;  or  else  step  by  step  to  ruin  our 
highly  favored  country  goes.     Law  religion    never  was    any   thing  else   but  a 
craft  of  tyrants  and  priests  for  gain. ..Jesus  Christ  nor  his  apostles  never   did,  nor 
never  will,  claim  any  kin  with  this  metamorphosed  imp  of  hell,      I  must  desist, 
only  observing  that  Ireland  is  paying  £72,000  to  26    bhhops,   besides  thousands 
to  other  crafts;  and  from  a  late   statement,   the  British  people  are  paying  their 
clergy  $50,000,000  yearly;  France,  §7,000,000.... and  Spain  more;*    ought   not 
this  to  make  Americans  look  out,  and  rise  as  one  man  in  opposition  to   the  first 
attempt  of  law  religion,  and  look  back  with  thankful   hearts  to  God,  and    highly 
venerate  the  blood  of  our  revolutionary   fathers,   that   bursted    such    bands  from 
the  hands  of  us  their  children   and  on   this  memorable  day  established    religious 
liberty  in  opposition  to  priestcraft  and  British  tyranny. ...and  I    call  on  you,  my 
audience,  this  day,never,  no  never,  to  part  wilh  liberty  for  less  than  it  cost. ..the 
blood  of  the  heart. 

The  third  religion  that  I  shall  notice  as  having  been  established  in  the  wbrld? 
is  that  of  Mahomet,  or  Mahomed. ..who  was  a  very  extraordinary  man,  an  Arab 
of  Hejiar  by  birth,  commenced  telling  his  tales  in  the  seventh  century  and  thus 
began  laying  the  foundation  of  his  craft.  Mahomet  was  beautiful  in  his  person, 
with  forward  large  and  keen  eyes,  clear  judgment,  decisive  in  conduct,  his  wit 
easy  and  social,  possesssed  much  natural  acutenesss,  and  spoke  fluently  in  the  pu- 
rest language  of  Arabia.  In  solitary  retirement  in  the  cave  of  Mecca,  Mahomet 
appears  to  have  conceived  the  idea  of  his  prophetical  mission,  or  founding  this 
new  craft.  And  as  I  have  said  all  religious  crafts  are  founded  on  certain  fabrica- 
ted tales,  and  not.  on  miracles  like  the  religion  of  God,  I  must  mention  some  of 
his  tajes...he  tells  the  world  of  his  night  journeys  to  heaven,  his  visions  were 
very  frequent  he  said  with  God  and  angels,  and  some  of  them  wonderful,  beatific, 
&c.     Mahomet  was  the  grandson  of  the  most  powerful    family    in   Mecca,  and 

♦Benedick,  in  his  history  of  all  religions,  states  the,  income  of  the  Clergy  of  all  deno- 
minations in  the  world,  at  $78,813,840.  France  had  before  the  revolution  of  1787,  about 
460,000  Clergy  and  craft  men  of  different  sorts  of  the  law  religion  of  Popery — and  put- 
ting the  population  of  Franee  at  that  time  at  24  or  25  millions,  the  Clergy  were  about 
or  at  least  l-60th  part  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  revenue  of  the  Clergy  at  that  time 
was  supposed  to  be  170,000,000  livres.  In  Spain,  before  the  revolution,  the  Clergy  and 
others  of  this  law  Catholic  craft,  amounted  to  180,000  in  numbers;  while  their  real  pro- 
perty in  lands,  buildings,  &c.  amounted  to  186,000,000  of  pounds,  besides  tithes,  taxes, 
fees,  and  dues  forthcoming^  otherwise — this  property  of  the  Clergy  was  put  to  sale  afteti 
-the  revolution,  and  was  stated  by  the  Cortes  to  amount  to  140,000,000,  to  pay  off  'the 
National  debt— since  that  time  the  Clergy  has  been  on  the  decline. 


u 

cot  much  wealth  by  marriage. ..the  first  twelve  years  of  his  mission    he  had  re-, 
course  to  persuasion  to  establish  his  craft;  three  years  were  silently  employed  m 
the  conversion  of  fourteen  proselytes;   for  ten  years  his   craft   advanced  with  a 
slow  and  painful  progress  within  the  walls  of  Mecca...how  soon   his  first  adhe- 
rents were  let  into  the  secret  of  his  views  of  empire,  is  not  easy  to  determine; 
but  not  to  dwelL.has  the  religion  of  Mahomet  the  marks  of  craft  upon  »t?     ¥es, 
my  audience  ..I  have  diligenllv  compared  ihe  Alcoran  with  the  New  Testament 
and  found  perhaps  not  less  than  twenty  places   of  forgery,  where   he  borrowed 
the  ideas  from  the  New  Testament,   but  changed  the  phraseology   of  the  words; 
as  well  as  acknowledged  the  name  of  Abraham,  Noah,  Jesus  Christ,  and  others, 
to  "loss  over  his  craR  and  make  it  pass  with  these  sons  of  Ishmael.     And   when 
he  fled  from  Mecca  to  Medina  the   people  received   him,  and  it   was   here  that 
this  craft  man   with  a  naked  sword  in  his  hand  and    uplifted    arm,  commenced 
proclaiming  to  the  whole  world  the  great  dogmas  of  his  craft...that    there    was 
one  God  and  that  Mahomet  was  his  prophet,  and   whoever  refused  to  acknow- 
ledge him  as  such  should  be  instantly  put   to  death.     This    is  a  sword   cratt....a 

craft  too  powerful  to  be  resisted;  and   he  soon  compelled  the  whole    country  ot 
Arabia  to  join  in  with  this  craft,  and  then  burst   forth   into   the  Roman   territo- 
ries, and  taught, them  his  Koran  craft  was  not  to  be  despised;  and  thus  establish- 
ed this  craft  in  Arabia,  Asia,  part  of  Africa.  Spain,  Sicily,  and  many  European 
isles.     Now  for  the  marks  of  this  craft... .first,  by  joining  the  craft   they  saved 

their  lives;  secondly,  every  soldier  in  this  craft  equally  divided   the  spoils  ot 
the  conquered  nations,  after  the  reservation  of  one-fifth  for  charitable  purposes; 
thirdly,  lustful  gratifications  was  another  part  of  this  craft,  for  the  craft  men  were 
allowed  a  plurality  of  wives;  and  fourthly,  they  were  assured  that  the  sword  ot 
Mahomet  was  the  key  of  heaven  and  of  hell... a  drop  of  blood  shed  in  the  cause 
of  God,  a  night  spent  in  arms,  is  of  more  avail  than  two  months  of  fasting  and 
prayer.. .whoever  falls  in  battle  his  sins  are  forgiven  at  the  day  of  judgment,  his 
'wounds  shall  be  as  resplendent  as  vermilion  and  odoriferous  as   musk,  and  the 
loss  of  his  limbs  shall  be  supplied  by  the  wings  of  angels  and  cherubim.     Ano- 
ther part  of  his  craft  was  his  voluptuous  paradise,  his  robes  of  silk,  his  palaces 
of  marble,  his  groves  and  shades...  but  above  all,  his  seventy-two  virgins  assign- 
ed to  each  of  the  faithful,  of  resplendent  beauty  and  eternal  youth,  were  enough 
to  intoxicate  the  imaginations  and   seize   the   passions  and    make   crait  men  by 
thousands.     Much  more  might   be  said,  but  surely  here  is  enough  to  convmce 
any  man,  that  this  is  a  religion  of  crafts,  though  established  by  the  sword,  and 
of  course  a  religion  of  blood.  ......     .u  u    • 

The  fourth  religion  I  shall  notice  as  having  been  established  in  the  world,  is 
the  Missionary  establishment....and   will   examine   that  for  the  marks  of  crait.  i 

It  is  abundantly  harped  upon  that  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  were  all  mis-' 
sionaries...that  is  agreed  to  as  to  words  or  office,  but  here  lies  the  great  matter  in 
dispute.. .were  they  craft  men?  did  they  make  gain  by  godliness?  did  they  make 
a  craft  of  their  religion,  like  modern  missionaries?  I  hope  to  shew  presently 
from  the  New  Testament  they  did  not.  The  first  moneyed  Missionary  Society 
that  ever  was  established  in  the  world,  as  I  can  find  on  the  pages  of  history,  was 
established  in  the  year  1622,  by  Pope  Gregory  XV.  (for  the  New  Testament 
knows  nothing  of  money  established  religion)  and  then  called  the  Congregation 
for  Propagation  of  the  Faith.  It  had,  like  our  modern  missions,  an  incre- 
dible number  of  donors,  rich  and  emulous  to  excel  in  the  greatest  gifts,  as  well 
as  being  greatly  enriched  by  Urban  VIII.  And  by  this  Congregation  s  money 
a  vast  number  of  missionaries  were  sent  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world, 
among  the  most  barbarous  nations,  and  in  India,  China  and  Japan.  Thousands 
were  won  over  by  the  artful  and  industrious  Jesuits  and  monks  to  embrace  the 


12 

Catholic  faith.  But  this  b'oasted  missionary  career  Was  of  short  duration,  for 
these  missionary  craft  men  soon  began  to  meddle  with  political  affairs,  like  some 
of  modern  time,  and  were  by  the  jealous  rulers  of  those  countries  expelled  from 
their  dominions;  and  thousands  of  their  converts  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  the 
rest  returned  to  paganism;  and  thus  ended  the  first  moneyed  missionary  entej- 
prize.  Now  was  there  any  craft  in  this  mission?  Surely. ..for  it  is  well  authen- 
ticated from  history,  that  the  Pope  was  often  generalissimo  of  the  armies,  and 
often  gave  battle  in  person  to  the  enemies  of  the  Catholic  faith;  and  of  course 
the  more  territory  the  more  soldiers,  the  more  soldiers  the  more  power,  as  well 
as  the  more  room  for  the  sale  of  pardons  and  indulgences;  and  the  more  sale  the 
more  wealth  to  the  craft,  while  the  great  object  was  to  grasp  at  the  reins  of  go^ 
vernment,  which  the  jealous  rulers  caught  them  at  in  nick  of  lime  to  save  their 
country  from  the  hands  of  such  tyrants,  whose  masters  often  sent  these  purse 
plunderers  to  force  the  heathen  into  the  belief  of  Christianity,  and  baptise  na- 
tions at  the  point  of  the  sword  to  enrich  the  See  of  Rome,  or  bring  wealth  to 
the  craft  men. 

The  sect  of  Christians  called  Moravians,  founded  the  second  mission  about  one 
hundred  years  ago.  The  third  missionary  establishment  was  formed  about 
twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  in  London,  called  the  Evangelical  Society.  The 
fourth,  called  the  Baptisl  Missionary  Society,  in  England.  And  lastly,  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Society  in  America.. ..with  others  of  like  occupation.  All  of 
which  are  founded  on  beggars  and  money,  like  that  of  Pope  Gregory's.  These 
are  all  important  establishments  of  the  craft  kind,  (for  their  like  cannot  be  found 
in  the  New  Testament,)  the  bases  of  which  are  money,  honor,  and  titles.. ..the 
love  of  which  (money)  is  the  root  of  all  evil,  to  clergymen  as  well  as  others.... 
has  been. ...is.. ..and  will  be;  and  when  sanctioned  by  law  for  priests  to  obtain  it, 
the  curse  of  nations. 

Now  all  these  established  societies  of  the  craft  kind  have,  by  the  money  given 
to  agents,  running  beggars,  subscription  bearers,  &c.  been  wonderfully  prolific 
throughout  the  several  States,  as  well  as  other  countries,  in  begetting  daughters 
whom  I  shall  call  auxiliary  societies  to  the  craft.  Now  I  ask  you  candidly, 
my  hearers,  to  put  your  hand  on  your  breast  and  say,  whether  you  do  or  do  not 
believe  that  money  has  been  the  main  spring,  the  chief  stimulus  in  all  this  migh- 
ty doing,  and  not  God  but  men  by  money  are  doing  this.  Some  no  doubt  are 
giving  from  what  they  conceive  the  purest  motives,  while  others  are  filling  their 
pockets  out  of  their  weakness. ...and  the  givers  to  theological  schools  and  other 
societies  I  say,  according  to  my  best  information  and  judgment  at  fifty  years 
old,  are  sowing  the  hemp  that  will  make  the  ropes  to  hang  their  children.. .for  all 
hands  but  trie  honest  givers,  it  seems  to  me,  shew  the  same  length  of  foot.... 
craft. ...from  the  priest  to  the  printer. 

But  as  I  am  limited  to  a  mere  sketch,  I  shall  begin  with  the  Baptist  Mission- 
ary Society,  founded  in  England.  Ln  the  year  17S4,  at  an  Association  held  at 
Nottingham,  England,  it  was  agreed  to  set  apart  an  hour  of  prayer  the  first 
Monday  evening  in  every  month,  for  a  revival  of  religion  and  the  extension  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  the  world... so  far  plausible.  Now  who  were  at  the  head, 
plan,  or  seem  to  have  had  the  chief  management  of  this  society?  Why,  John 
Ryland,  Reynold  Hogg,  William  Gary,  John  Sutcliff,  and  Andrew  Ful- 
ler.    Were  they  priests?     Surely for  do  you  not  know  that  the  priests  were, 

are,  and  must  be,  at  the  head  of  all  the  schemes  of  the  day.  And  Mr.  Cary 
was  one  of  the  committee  and  help  form  the  plan  that  has  got  him  along,  accor- 
ding to  the  best  accounts  I  can  get,  to  $6,000  a  year;  a  good  business  indeed  for 
a  preacher.. ..neither  the  prophets,  John  the  Baptist,  nor  Christ  nor  his  apostles, 
ever  sheared  such  a  loaf  as  this.     Mr.  Kobertson  and  wife  were  allowed  $840 


<3 

per  year,  and  Mr.  Chaler  and  wife  and  two  children  were  allowed  $960  a  year 
lor  missionary  services.  Now,  my  hearers,  say  whether  you  think  either  of 
these  men  would  have  left  the  British  shore,  if  it  had  so  turned  out  thf-re  had 
been  no  money.  I  think  not.  Then  if  they  could  not  go  without  money,  but 
you  must  add  that  before  they  can  go,  1  should  say  money  turns  the  point.... and 
on  this  pivot  turns  all  the  societies  of  the  day,  in  my  opinion.  You  find  no 
money  in  Jesus'  going  to  Nineveh,  nor  in  Paul's  voyages  to  the  heathen,  nor 
in  Christ's  crossing  the  sea  of  Gallilee  to  preach  the  gospel.... no  money  is  beg- 
ged, no  society  is  formed,  nor  salary  is  allowed  them  for  scouring  the  seas  and 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. ...but  although  these  things  cannot  be  found 
in  the  New  Testament,  they  are  said  to  be  right;  but  if  they  are,  in  my  opinion, 
it  is  only  so  to  support  priestcraft  in  the  earth  and  live  on  the  labor  of  other  people. 
We  next,  my  audience,  shall  notice  the  American  missionary  craft.  And  for 
goodness'  sake,  how  came  this  craft  to  find  its  wa)'  to  the  land  of  steady  habits, 
the  land  of  liberty?  I  tell  you,  it  was  the  priests'  doings. ...for  you  know  the 
American  tailors  cut  their  cloth  after  British  fashions,  and  the  whole  train  foU 
lows  the  higher  orders  of  society. ..and  why  should  not  the  priests  of  America 
form  their  plans  of  money  getting,  and  adopt  British  fashionable  crafts,  since 
they  are  men  of  like  occupation?  Then  the  truth  of  the  case  is  just  this... .the 
northern  priests,  many  of  whom  are  salary  men,  hearing  of  the  fashion  of  mis- 
sions adopted  in  England,  called  together  men  of  like  occupation  and  when  as- 
sembled they  hatch  this  missionary  egg,  which  has  since  filled  the  States  with 
a  peace-disturbing  brood  of  crafts,  without  thus  saith  the  Lord  for  their  proceed- 
ing. But,  fellow  citizens,  lest  I  should  weary  you  with  no  doubt  what  some 
will  call  nonsense,  or  as  they  have  done,  political  harangues,  I  shall  proceed  to 
examine  for  the  constant,  united,  scriptural  marks  of  a  false  religion  and  false 
priests...  that  is,  whether  the  American  mission  has  the  mark  of  craft.  These 
northern  priests  soon  in  their  pamphlets,  letters,  and  papers,  let  the  scattered 
priests  know  their  design,  and  a  great  many  fell  into  their  views,  some  no  doubt 
from  one  cause  and  some  from  another;  but  take  it  by  the  lump,  the  priests  are 
the  cause  of  all  this,  whether  the  craft  is  right  or  wrong,  for  that  they  led  oth- 
ers into  it  must  be  acknowledged;  but  from  what  motive  they  have  ben  actua- 
ted, is  the  main  point  in  question... .and  as  we  cannot  search  their  hearts,  we 
must  try  them  by  their  actions,  for  actions  speak  louder  and  more  truth  than 
words,  pamphlets,  or  missionary  newspapers,  since  by  their  fruit  ye  shall  know 
them.  And  first,  as  regards  theological  schools... who  but  the  priests  con- 
ceived the  scheme  and  devised  the  plan  and  set  them  going,  through  their  influr 
ence  on  society?  You  must  know  this  is  the  truth.  Is  there  any  craft  in  them? 
1  should  say  there  is  nothing  else  but  craft.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  stood 
and  flourished  for  three  hundred  years,  not  only  without  their  aid,  but  in  oppo- 
sition to  them;  and  how  else  should  it  be,  since  salvation  is  by  grace,  and  the 
gospel  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  world  by  wisdom 
know  not  God....and  I  defy  any  man  to  prove  that  theological  schools  were  ever 
made  an  auxiliary  to  Christianity,  until  it  became  an  established  priestcraft..,, 
and  since  those  days  it  has  been  necessary,  my  audience,  to  have  them,  to  sup- 
port priestcraft;  but  when  Christianity  shone  in  her  virgin  beauty  it  was  not 
so.*     Do  you  not   think  the  teachers  of  theology  were  thinking,  when  those, 

♦When  the  Ark  of  God  was  jn  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  it  was  a  curse  to  the  na- 
tion, because  out  of  the  hands  of  the  priests  of  God's  choice  and  appointment — so  even 
so  in  all  countries,  when  the  gospel  and  Christ's  cause  gets  in  the  hands  and  is  managed 
by  the  men  of  this  world,  and  priests  not  chosen  and  qualified  by  God  to  bear  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation — a  curse,  a  great  curse.  Why  then  shall  not  America  feel  the  curse 
iroxa  the  same  cause? 


14 

plans  were  formed,  I  am  the  man  that  will  be  chosen,  and  $2500  will  be  a  band- 
some  craft,  besides  the  honor  attached  to  the  office?  Do  you  not  think  that 
those  young  men  who  go  thither,  have  in  view  the  craft  of  getting  a  salary,  the 
more  of  the  gentleman,  a  rich  wife,  the  honor  of  being  called  the  learned,  the 
greater  preacher,  and  living  without  work?  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  some  of  them 
are  not  ashamed  to  beg,  and  thus  disgrace  the  ministerial  office... .when  all  the 
moneyed  affairs  of  the  Christian  community,  by  the  New  Testament,  belongs  to 
the  office  of  deacon. 

Secondly,  as  to  missions.  We  find  in  black  and  while  that  the  Board  of  the 
North-Carolina  Baptist  Society  for  foreign  and  domestic  missions,  ordered  that 
their  agent  should  be  paid  $540  for  services,  being  at  the  rate  of  $40  per  month; 
and  to  others  who  were  not  so  proficient  in  the  art,  SX  per  day  for  their  services 
as  missionaries.  What  were  their  gain  or  loss  I  know  not.. ..but  one  thing  I 
know,  they  have  broke  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  churches  of  North-Caroli- 
na; and  I  think  that  money,  and  not  the  souls  of  men  was  the  cause... for  out  of 
the  fund  of  the  society,  which  was  $20S8  72^,  they  divided  $1S52  2\h.  if  they 
got  what  the  Board  ordered  them  for  services.  Now  I  ask  you  seriously,  my 
audience,  as  some  of  you  are  Bible  readers,  whether  such  forming  societies, 
begging,  funding,  and  dividing  the  spoil,  is  a  craft  or  not;  and  whether  the  first 
Christians  practiced  any  craft  like  this;  or  whether  such  conduct  is  found  among 
Christ  and  his  apostles?  It  has  always  appeared  to  me,  that  when  I  see  a  min-i 
ister,  after  preaching  a  missionary  moneyed  sermon  come  down  out- of  the  pul-j 
pit,  singing  and  shaking  hands  to  whet  up  the  passions  and  press  upon  young: 
ladies  to  form  a  missionary  society  and  give  their  money,  that  the  preaching, 
the  singing,  and  the  shaking  of  hands  of  tie  minister,  were  but  the  craft  of  the 
preacher  to  have  access  to  the  purse;  and  it  would  be  in  my  mind,  these  are  they 
that  creep  into  houses  and  lead  captive  silly  women  laden  with  divers  sms,  &c. 
(Paul). ...and  also  when  I  have  seen  the  missionary  preacher  stretch  every  nerve 
of  eloquence,  and  bear  hard  on  every  pathetic  string  to  affect  his  audience  in  fa- 
vor of  missions,  I  never  could  help  saying  craft  in  the  preacher,  to  catch  money 
and  not  souls.  And  when  I  have  seen  a  parcel  of  priests  assembled  to  devise 
plans  to  get  money  to  convert  the  heathen,  (for  I  have  set  in  missionary  board) 
I  have  been  astonished  to  see  that  they  by  the  by  would  get  part  as  it  was  pass- 
ing; and  that  they  should  form  the  plan  and  so  turn  the  wheel  as  to  bring  them 
out  the  prize,  I  was  forced  to  think  there  is  craft  somewhere. ...and  the  same 
Board  ordered  that  my  humble  secretary  should  be  paid  $15  for  his  services.... 
shall  I  say  craft  or  not.  And  I  ask  what  has  become  of  the  $1799,  left  in  this 
fund  the  last  time  that  the  Board  met,  as  I  know  of?  For  it  has  been  rumored 
that  $G00of  it  has  gone  to  bu}T  western  country  land,  and  the  rest  it  is  supposed 
has  taken  French  leave.  Now  does  one  instance  appear,  my  hearers,  in  the  New 
Testament,  of  a  prophet,  or  Christ,  or  his  apostles,  ever  being  hired  to  preach, 
to  beg,  or  to  form  societies  to  make  money?  You  know  there  is  not  such  a  pre- 
cedent in  the  word  of  God.  Then  I  must  say  preaching,  begging,  and  forming 
of  societies,  is  a  craft  to  get  money,  set  in  operation  by  priest?,  and  carried  on 
by... .you  comb  my  head  and  1  will  scratch  your  elbow.  But  what  is  the  worst 
of  all,  the  conversion  of  sinners  which  is  the  work  of  God.  must  be  lugged  into 
this  craft  to  make  it  current  with  the  public.  You  beg  for  me  and  I  will  pay 
you  for  your  services.  And  what  has  become  of  the  $25,000  begged  out  of 
Congress  for  the  ministerial  factor}'. ...to  give  away  which  Congress  had  no  right, 
for  it  was  the  nation's  money  and  they  ought  to  have  applied  it  to  national  use, 
and  not  sectarian  individual  benefit.  And  I  would  further  ask  you,  my  audi- 
ence, if  any  of  you  know  to  what  use  the  missionaries  implied  that  $16,000  it  is 
said  they  got  from  the  Indians  that  was  due  from   the   United  Slates  for  these 


15 

poor  creatures'  land,  and  how  Congress  paid  it?  Why  what  will  not  a  priest  do? 
even  beg  and  then  divide,  and  perhaps  the  last  cent  of  negro,  \vidow,  children, 
or  Indian.. ..for  what  differs  this  craft  from  that  of  Demetrius,  in  getting  wealth 
out  of  negro  or  Indian,  goat  or  sheep,  so  wealth  is  coming?  And  what  differs 
the  selling  of  membership  into  missionary  societies  and  bible  societies,  from  $2 
to  $50  for  membership,  from  the  sale  of  pardons,  indulgences,  or  silver  shrines 
by  Demetrius?  I  see  none.... or  at  least,  I  think,  my  hearers,  they  are  all  crafts, 
and  equally  craft  men's  different  trades  for  wealth. ..what  say  you? 

But  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  barefaced  conduct  of  craft  men, 
imposed  on  the  public  under  the  color  of  the  say  so  of  Jesus  Christ.... be  it 
sufficient  to  say,  when  you  see  a  missionary  box  on  the  frontispiece,  or  on  board 
of  a  steamboat,  say  to  yourself,  oh,  cunning,  crafty  priest,  you  shall  not  befool 
me,  for  here  stands  an  evidence  of  your  craft;  when  you  see  a  board -of  mission- 
aries, met  to  devise  plans  for  the  conversion  of  sinners,  tie  your  purse  fast,  if  you 
do  not,  craft  men  are  so  crafty  that  by  some  hook  or  crook  they  will  get  into  it; 
when  you  see  a  subscription  runner,  say  craft  man.  ..take  care  you  are  not  begged 
out  of  countenance;  when  you  see  a  young  man  hunting  about  from  town  to 
town,  in  boots  and  sacred  black,  for  a  place  to  preach  for  hire,  say  craft  man; 
when  you  see  and  hear  a  man  preach,  go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  mo- 
ney to  every  creature,  say  craft  man;  when  you  see  a  publication  to  call  craft 
men  together,  be  sure  of  some  new  devised  craft  for  wealth,  or  they  think  their 
craft  is  in  danger;  when  you  see  and  hear  a  man  preach  the  poor  heathen,  the 
destitute,  and  instead  of  the  gospel  the  wonderful  works  of  missionaries,  and  oh 
come,  both  goats  and  sheep,  cast  your  money  into  the  treasury,  blasphemously 
called  the  Lord's,  be  sure  that  man  is  paid  in  some  way  for  his  services,  and  is 
at  his  craft;  when  you  see  a  bag  hanging  at  the  meeting-house  door,  full  of  old 
rags,  say  paper  priestcraft;  when  you  hear  a  missionary  promise  to  send  a  par- 
cel of  ladies  a  preacher,  if  they  will  give  their  money,  and  get  their  money  and 
away,  say  craft.... and  indeed  it  seems  to  me,  that  this  system  of  religion  is  no- 
thing else  but  crafi,  from  the  priest  to  the  printer,  for  to  get  their  wealth  like 
Pemetrius  of  old,  since  they  can  sell  images  of  northern  priests  and  member-? 
ships  in  various  societies,  to  support  their  craft.  And  what  shall  I  say  of  the  titles 
annexed  10  missions.. .are  they  not  intended  as  a  craft  to  catch  men  and  women 
for  wealth?  such  as,  his  highness,  president,  vice-president,  director,  directress, 
corresponding  and  recording  secretary,  treasurer,  D.  D...L.  L.  D....A.  M.  &c. 
are  not  these  good  bait  to  catch  flies?  of  which  titles  the  first  christians  speak 
not  a  word  of  their  being  among  them.. .for  all  these  crafts  have  arisen  since,  of  ' 
which  the  devil  must  keep  his  register,  for  the  New  Testament  keeps  none. 
Then  is  it  any  wonder  that  some  men  pour  forth  in  strains  of  eloquence,  like  the 
town  clerk,  which  of  you  knoweth  not  that  the  high-minded  baptists,  and  rich 
men,  and  great  and  honorable  men,  and  my  lord  governor,  and  judges,  lawyers, 
and  chief  captains  have  bought  membership  into  missionary  and  bible  societies, 
and  are  worshippers  of  the  great  goddess  of  missions.. .and  keep  the  churches 
and  people  of  the  United  States  in  an  uproar,  like  the  city  of  the  Ephesians  by 
the  craft  of  Demetrius  and  his  gang,  because  a  few  like  Paul  oppose  them.  Thus 
the  cr)T  to  Congress,  help  to  maintain  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath. ...and  hence,  oh 
ye  sons  of  liberty,  look  abroad  and  behold  these  men  of  like  occupation  in  eve- 
ry State,  and  almost  in  every  county,  actively  engaged  and  concentrating  their 
force  to  a  point,  and  at  the  same  time  attacking  one  of  the  most  v.aluable  insti- 
tutions of  our  country,  that  of  the  transportation  of  Ihe  mail.  I  call  on  you,  fel- 
low citizens,  to  arise  like  Sampsons,  in  defence  of  religious  liberty,  and  burst 
those  priestly  withes,  and  carry  away  web,  beam  and  all. ..and  not  sleep  in  De- 
lilah's lap  until  the   yoke  is  on   your  necks   and  your  Iocks^shorn  by  vigilant 


16 

priests  and  acts  of  Congress,  and  your  children  grind  in  the  prison  house  of  civil 
and  religious  tyranny. 

We  preach  not  ourselves  but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  and  ourselves  your  ser- 
vants for  Jesus' sake,  is  the  language  of  a  Paul. ..but  the  language  of  missiona- 
ries seems  to  me  should  read  thus:  ourselves  your  servants  for  money's  sake. 

And  what  shall  I  say  of  tract,  sunday  school,  temperance,  and  bible  societies, 
&c.  Are  they  not  of  the  same  sort?  wsre  not  the  priests  the  inventors?  dp 
they  not  use  all  their  influence,  like  Demetrius,  to  keep  up  a  trade  in  these  things, 
as  he  did  by  selling  shrines?  do  they  not  roar  out  in  their  papers,  like  him, 
against  all  that  oppse,  our  craft  is  in  danger?  I  understood  these  bibles  were 
to  be  given  away,  as  the  effect  of  the  money  given  by  donors  to  the  society,  but 
is  it  so?  is  not  the  society  selling  them  at  any  price  they  can  get?  are  not  the 
bible  distributors  making  a  craft  of  it  at  $40  per  month?  are  not  the  printers 
making  a  craft  of  it  like  other  printers?  are  not  the  venders  of  these  bibles  ma- 
king a  craft  of  it  like  other  book  sellers?  And  are  they  not,  by  reason  of  this 
money  given  to  the  society,  forcing  other  printers  out  of  employ  and  amassing 
the  printing  of  the  bible  to  themselves  as  a  religious  craft?  And  where  is  the 
$25,000  of  stock  that  it  is  said  the  society  has  taken  in  the  institutions  of  the 
north?  And  who  does  that  money  belong  to?  the  givers.. ..no  indeed,  for  ihey 
have  neither  bond  nor  assurance  how  this  money  is  to  be  disposed  of,  but  just 
as  the  society  may  choose.  And  is  this  society  incorporated?  I  understand  not. 
Well  then,  suppose  they  betray  trust,  how  then?  Why  it  can  only  go  as  some 
others  have  gone...  a  hint  to  the  wise  is  enough.  But  the  distribution  of  bibles 
has  been  going  on  sometime,  what  has  been  the  effect  on  society  in  general? 
Why  from  all  I  can  see  and  hear,  society  is  worse  in  its  morals  than  when  I 
could  first  remember.. ..more  pride,  more  dress,  less  confidence  between  men, 
more  failures,  suicides,  murders,  than  there  were  thirty-five  years  ago.  The 
Bible  is  the  best  of  books,  but  how  many  thousands  have  lived  and  died  in  sin 
with  one  in  their  house  lor  forty  years;  and  how  many  thousands  have  been 
hopefully  converted  to  God  that  never  owned  a  Bible,  nor  read  a  word  in  one? 
Yea,  my  observation  tells  me,  of  this  sort  is  the  greater  number  of  professors  of 
religion.  In  a  word,  when  I  see  men  trading  and  trafficking  in  religious  mat- 
ters, it  smells  to  me  rank  of  priestcraft. ...and  the  giving  money  enables  the  so- 
ciety to  sell  them  for  less  than  others,  then  look  out  for  this  trade  to  become 
wholly  in  the  end  the  traffic  of  the  priests... .and  are  they  the  most  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  Bible?  no,  my  audience,  whenever  it  shall  so  fall  out  that  any  one  sect 
has  the  trust,  and  disposal  of  the  Bible,  look  out  for  corruption  of  the  sacred 
text.... for  I  have  seen  some  instances  already. 

Much  is  said  about  the  Temperance  Society.... but  if  I  am  rightly  informed 
those  who  join  are  not  to  drink  one  drop.. ..if  so,  it  has  a  wrong  name,  for  it 
ought  to  be  called  the  Abstaining  Society.  Does  such  a  society  agree  with 
scripture?  Drink  no  longer  water,  says  Paul  to  Timothy,  but  use  a  little  wine... 
and  of  deacons  he  saith,  not  given  to  much  wine.. ..and  the  Saviour  drank  wine. 
And  because  some  men  make  a  storehouse  of  their  belly,  I  must  eat  none.. ..and 
because  some  men  have  burnt  up  their  kettles,  I  must  not  hang  mine  on  the  fire 
....and  because  some  men  have  been  killed  by  medicine,  I  must  not  use  it  pru- 
dently. What  sophistry  of  priests?  And  because  some  men  eat  so  much  as  to 
make  them  sick,  I  must  not  eat  enough  to  keep  me  alive.. ..and  because  some 
men  eat  too  much  meat  and  bread,  I  must  not  make  meat  and  bread  nor  trade  in 
these  articles.. .and  because  some  men  make  a  beast  of  their  belly  and  get  drunk,. 
I  must  not  make  fruit  brandy,  still  it,  or  trade  in  this  article.  The  scripture 
Is  not  against  drinking,  but  against  drinking  too  much,  or  drunkenness;  for  the 
mpsaic  priest  was  permitted  to  drink  wine,  but  not  when  he  was  going  to  offici- 


17 

ate.  And  Paul  saith,  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing  is  to  be  reftf* 
sed,  for  it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer;  and  let  your  moderation 
be  known  to  all  men.  And  it  is  the  right  way  to  make  drunkards,  to  keep  so- 
ber all  day  and  be  drunk  all  night... the  worst  sort  of  greedy  drunkards  are 
these,  priests  not  excepted.  Don't  mistake.. ..set  things  right... for  this  society 
puts  me  in  mind  of  Paul's  prophecy,  who  said  some  should  arise  that  would  for- 
bid to  marry  and  abstain  from  meats  which  God  had  created  to  be  received. ..and 
that  was  priestcraft  under  the  Romish  church,  none  can  deny... .and  this  being 
so  nigh  a  kin  to  it,  I  think  this  is  modern  priestcraft.,  that  has  a  form  of  godli- 
ness, to  a  better  craft  out  of  present  sight.  I  shall  then  take  my  grog,  wine,  or 
what  not,  when  I  please,  nor  will  I  debar  myself  the  privilege  and  pleasure  of 
asking  my  friends  or  enemies  to  do  so;  and  let  such  over-zealous,  self-righteous 
craft  men  help  themselves  if  they  can. ...for  it  is  like  the  pharisees  of  old,  great 
pretence  outside,  but  the  craft  was  to  devour  some  widow's  house.  Cry  aloud, 
ye  priests,  and  spare  not,  against  drunkenness;  but  let  moderation  alone,  lest 
you  jump  as  far  in  the  ditch  on  the  other  side. 

And  as  regards  Tract  Societies  and  Sunday  School  Unions,  they  tore  about 
the  worst  of  the  whole  gang,  for  they  are  also  the  inventions  of  the  priests,  and 
contain  craft  for  printers,  and  they  should  cry  out  as  well  as  the  priests,  our  craft 
is  in  danger,  for  you  know  bv  this  our  printing  tracts  we  have  our  wealth... .and 
the  writers  should  cry  out,  since  premiums  are  offered  for  the  best  1ract  on  such 
a  subject.. .and  the  traders  in  tracts  also  may  cry  out... but  the  worst  of  all  the 
effects,  is  the  sectarian  principles  infused  in  the  minds  of  youth;  for  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  writers  will  squint  an  eye  to  their  party,  and  give 
that  turn  to  them  that  will  mostly  establish  and  enhance  their  sect.  And  will 
not  Sunday  School  Unions  force  out  of  schools  all  books  but  those  approved  by 
the  priests  and  then*  party,  and  bend  the  twig  to  incline  to  their  point,  and  thus 
pave  the  way  to  the  desired  end.. ..and  this  party  in  the  end  monopolise  books, 
schools,  sentiments,  men  and  power,  and  the  end  of  all  crafts,  money?  Besides/ 
it  is  a  great  convenience  as  well  as  advantage  to  get  the  people  formed  into  va- 
rious societies,  because  they  are  much  easier  governed;  and  much  more  easily 
brought  to  bear  at  any  wanted  point,  and  at  a  given  time,  because  it  increases 
the  greater  number  of  actual  controlers  in  lesser  bands... hence,  see  what  an  easy 
matter  to  bring  all  the  priests  at  a  given  time  and  to  a  focus  in  the  several  States 
in  their  petitions  to  Congress  for  stopping  the  mail.. ..what  an  easy  matter  it  is  for 
them  to  collect  money,  when  they  have  got  men  and  women  thus  craftily  form- 
ed into  societies.. ..this  was  a  grand  piece  of  priestcraft.  Now  having  them  thus 
formed,  it  is  but  say,  and  receive  without  much  trouble. ...well  they  might  pay 
runners  to  go  about  and  form  societies,  because  they  can  now  stay  at  home  and 
money  is  pouring  in  to  the  craft;  for  some  of  these  societies,  if  I  am  informed 
right,  pay  annually,  after  having  purchased  a  shrine  of  the  craft  men  of  mem- 
bership into  Bible  and  other  societies.  I  tell  you,  my  audience,  that  it  is  my 
candid  opinion,  that  this  society  craft  will  enslave  our  country.  In  a  word,  all 
these  chief  societies  make  use  of  employed  runners  as  sponges  to  suck  up  the 
riches  of  a  tour,  and  squeeze  it  and  then  send  them  off  in  another  direction  to 
be  filled  again.  I  repeat  it,  these  societies  of  every  sort  manifest  a  wonderful 
love  of  money,  for  they  embrace  every  method  of  procuring  it,  even  to  old 
rags;  and  thus  they  sponge  and  squeeze,  and  never  say  enough.  It  does  appear 
to  me,  my  audience,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  religion  of  these  days  is  a  craft, 
a  religion  of  trade  and  speculation,  from  the  priest  to  the  printer;  and  has  been 
established  in  public  opinion  without  a  proper  comparison  with  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ)  and  that  the  priests  have  devised  the  plans  of  all  these  things  to 
hajidle  mosey;  and  after  devising  the  j) lairs,  then  hire  others,  to  carry  them  frj- 


18 

to  execution,  and  pay  them  for  their  services;  thus  by  the  influence  of  the  priests  1 
and  money,  great  things  have  been  done,  it  is  said.      But  I  am  such  an  unbelie- 1 
ver  of  these  priestly  tales,  1   must  say,  like  Jesus  said    in  his  day  to  such  craft  | 
men.. .you  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  a  proselyte,  and  when  you  have  made 
him  he  is  but  two-fold  more  the  child  of  hell  than  yourselves.     For,  by  plans  of 
priests,  by  hired  beggars,  by  subscription  runners  of  those  priests  they  thought 
had  the  most  influence  and  could  work  most  on  the  passions  of  men  to  get  mo- 
ney, was  this  religion  begun,  continued,  and  carried  on,  and  not  by  God's  spirit,  I 
And  secondly,  the  publication  of  donors'  names  has  been  a  great  means  to  esta-  j 
blish  this  religion  of  missions,  since  thousands  of  men  will  buy  honor  with  mo- 
ney.    Thirdly,  the  great  concern  that  some  priests  seem    to  have  for  the  desti-  j 
lute  and  the  heathen,  while  the  end  of  the  row  was  money  in  their  own  pockets,  j 
But  most  of  all  those  who  have  gone  the  furthest  and  done  the  most  to  establish  j 
this  missionary   religion,  are   the  givers  to   those  various  societies,  to  make 
shrines  for  the  goddess  of  missions;  for  no  customers  no  trade  by  Demetrius  and 
his  crafty  gang;   equally   so,  no  giving  no  runners,  no  subscription  bearers,  no  j 
craft  men  of  course,  and  the  goddess  of  missions  and  her  magnificence  are  soon 
destroyed.     Thus  this  religion  of  crafts,  with  the  whole  train  of  missions,  bible 
and  tract  societies,  theological  and  Sunday  schools,  have  their  men   and  I  think 
may  properly  be  called  craft  men,  employed   every  man  looking  for  gain  from 
his  quarter.     And  I  think,  my  audience,  when  all  these  craft  men  are  called  to- 
gether with  money  and  influence  on  the  people,  they  can  do  wonders  in   the  U-  | 
nited  States.... all  moving  in  harmony  at  the  same  juncture  of  time  and   to  the 
same  point.     I  tell  you,  my  hearers,  as  a  faithful  watchman  on  the  walls  of  Zion,  j 
our  civil  and  religious  liberty  is  in  danger,  in  my  opinion;  and  the  magnificence 
of  our  republic  in  great  danger  of  being  destroyed  by  these  designing  *  * — up, 
each  one  of  you,  and  be  doing  his  part,  for  there  is  no  timcfor  you  to  sleep  on  j 
your  oars,  or  else  backwards  we  go   by  the   adverse  winds  of  priestcraft  to  the 
chains  of  priestly  tyranny  as  in  the  days  of  Britain.. ..and   don't  forget,  for  hea- 
ven's and  your  children's  sake,  that  the  price  of  liberty  is  blood.     A  thousand 
times  more  might  be  said  on  the  schemes  of  the  day,  but  I  must  desist  at  pre- 
sent, only  observing  that  there  are  ways  to  avert  this  storm  and  save  your  coun- 
try and  liberty  to  your  children,  and  perhaps  children's  children,  or  I  think  our 
country  is  gone. ..first,  don't  give  one  cent  to  any  of  these  societies;   but  what 
you  have  to  give,  give  to  the  poor  and  the  needy,  the  fatherless  and  widow,  and 
their  souls  will  bless  you,   and   you  will   be  acting  according  to  scripture,   and 
shall  be  blessed  in  thedeed;  for  without  money  craft  men  or  these  societies  can- 
not exist.     Secondly,  discountenance  every  man  travelling  under  the  patronage 
or  to  promote  any  of  these  societies,  being  sure  he  is  a  craft  man,  and  not  even 
honor  him  with  a  hearing  as  money  is  his  design...  which  I  for  many  years  have 
determined  not  to  do,  as  I  regard  such  as  laying  a  foundation  that  may  hereafter 
overturn  our  happy  republic.     Thirdly,  I  say  to  save  your  country,  you  should 
not  support  any  man  for  public  office  in  the  States,  that  is  a  member  of,  or  that 
is  in  favor  of  the  societies  of  the  day,  lest  any  bill  supporting  priestcraft  should 
come  before  the  State  or  National  Legislature,  and  there  meet  with  priest-made 
friends  to  rivet  the  yoke  on  your  necks.. ..for  as  the  people  are  now  sovereign  of 
the  States,  for  God's  sake  hold  on  and  don't  let  the  priests  have  the  sovereignty; 
if  you  do,  nothing  but  money  will  not  do,   for  then  blood  and  slavery    must  be 
added  to  these  craft  men.. ..for  of  all  the  men  in  the  world  1  dread  the  tyranny  of 
an  unconverted,  men-made,  money-coveting  priest;    I    had  rather  be  under  the 
government  of  a  deist,  an  atheist,  or  a  Turk,  than  such  hell  arid  men-made  ty- 
rants as  these  money-hunting  craft  men,  who  have  stimulated  the  magistrates  of 
Ihe  world  to  fill  the  earth  with  blood  and  cruelly.     And  the   American  uncoiW 


*9 

verted  factoried  priests  are  no  better;  all  that  is  wanting  is  law  on  their  side,  and 
then  for  dungeons,  gibbets,  flames,  fine  and  forfeiture,  whips  and  confiscation  of 
goods  and  banishment... and  for  heaven's  sake,  my  countrymen,  never  come 
even  to  a  toleration  fight  until  you  die,  yea  die  by  the  pole  of  American  liberty 
and  under  the  banner  of  a  waving  eagle,  rather  than  ask  of  the  magistrate  how 
you  shall  worship  your  God... .for  such  a  favor  is  not  to  be  asked  by  the  citizen, 
nor  granted  by  the  creature  of  human  power,  but  is  the  right  of  all  men. 

Fifthly  and  lastty,  I  come  to  notice  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  having 
been  established  in  the  world,  and  examine  that  in  a  short  way  for  crafts.  Je- 
sus Christ,  the  founder  of  this  holy,  humble,  self-denying,  world-loosing,  and 
God-depending  religion,  was  born,  according  to  the  best  accounts  on  the  25th 
day  of  December,  in  the  year  of  the  world  4004,  in  a  stable  in  a  town  called 
Bethlehem,  in  the  land  ofJudea,  but  of  poor  parentage  yet  of  royal  extraction, 
from  the  family  of  David  king  of  Israel.  And  he  must  have  been  the  same  per- 
son of  whom  the  prophet  Isaiah  speaks. ...that  a  virgin  should  be  with  child  and 
bring  forth  a  son  and  call  his  name  Emanuel,  (God  with  us,)  when  compared 
with  the  conception  and  birth  of  Jesus  as  given  by  the  Evangelist... for  mark,  he 
does  not  say  a  woman  shall  be  with  child,  for  thousands  had  been  and  were  in  his 
day  and  had  brought  forth  their  sons. ...but,  my  hearers,  the  prophet  here  has  a 
clear  view  of  God's  method  of  providing  the  world  with  a  Saviour..,. a  virgin 
shall  be  with  child,  (that  is,  a  woman  that  never  knew  a  man).. .a  miracle  indeed, 
and  such  an  one  as  infidels  snuff"  the  nose  at;  yet  compared  with  Paul's  saying, 
(made  of  a  woman,)  and  with  the  declaration  of  the  angel,  thou  shalt  conceive 
and  bring  forth  a  son,  &c.  will  be  found  to  exactly  agree.  And  whoever  will 
be  at  the  pains  to  carefully  examine  and  compare  the  various  prophecies  in  their 
most  minute  and  circumstantial  details,  with  the  New  Testament,  as  regards  the 
birth,  life,  death,  resurrection  and  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ,  must  be  struck 
with  the  accurate  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  the  person  of  Christ  Jesus;  and  it 
cannot  be  applied  to  any  other  character  or  any  other  man  of  whom  history  in- 
forms us....  as  well  as  the  spread  of  his  doctrine,  increase  of  followers,  &c.  For 
the  novel  circumstance  of  a  virgin  being  with  child  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  case 
I  never  heard  of  but  this,  nor  read  of  in  the  pages  of  history.. .his  character  by 
the  prophet,  God  with  us,  which  could  not  have  been  any  other  way  but  as  de- 
scribed by  Gabriel. ..Joseph's  dream.. .his  star  in  the  east.... the  coming  of  the 
wise  men  to  Jerusalem.. .their  inquiry  in  the  courts  of  Herod,  for  him  that  was 
born  King  of  the  Jews... the  consulting  of  the  prophecies  to  find  where,  and 
finding  as  they  s<»id....the  star  going  before  and  standing  over  where  the  young 
child  was.. ..the  proclamation  of  the  angels  to  the  shepherds;  their  directions 
where  lo  find  him,  and  the  signs,  swadling  bands  and  laying  in  a  manger.. .the 
heavenly  hosts  singing  the  exact  ditty  of  the  life-effects  of  the  gospel  on  the 
souls  of  sinners,  by  the  life  and  death  of  this  man.... the  prophecies  of  Simeon 
and  Anna.. ..the  death  of  the  Hebrew  children  by  the  sword  of  Herod. ..his  going 
to  Egypt,  his  return  to  Nazareth,  &c.  is  such  a  combination  of  uncommon,  evi- 
dential circumstances  to  prove  the  extraordinary  personage  of  this  man  Christ 
Jesus,  that  cannot  by  one-fifth  part  be  found  lo  prove  any  other  historical  fact 
oo  earth. ..for  the  birth  of  Julius  or  Augustus  Caesar,  Solomon,  David,  Wash- 
ington, or  Bonaparte,  has  not  the  twentieth  part  of  evidences  for  their  birth, 
and  the  manner  bow  and  where,  and  their  character  that  should  follow  and 
was  fulfilled  in  the  presence  of  eye  witnesses,  as  well  as  prophecies  going  be- 
fore accomplished.  And  as  for  the  character  of  his  life,  where  and  how  he  liv-> 
ed,  the  doctrine  he  taught,  the  suffering  and  reproaches  he  underwent,  the  mira- 
ales  he  wrought,  the  cures  he  effected,  the  goodness  of  his  conduct  and  disposi- 
tion, his  readiness  to  help  the  distressed    without  money,   the   manner  of  his 


20 

death,  the  followers  he  had  and  their  sufferings  and  disinterested  character  and 
world-loosing  behavior  and  labor  to  support  themselves,  are  as  well  and  better 
founded  than  many  other  historical  facts  that  are  universally  received.. ..having 
the  testimony  of  sacred  and  profane  history,  of  cotemporary  historians,  of  friends 
and  of  enemies,  of  angels  and  of  God,  of  eye  and  ear  witnesses,  of  miracles,  and 
of  a  virtuous  and  suffering  and  disinterested  life....  with  the  addition  of  a  system 
of  morality  whose  evidences  is  such,  that  shows  that  the  system  must  have  ema- 
nated from  the  Deity,  because  it  breathes  the  very  spirit  of  the  general  dealing 
of  God  in  the  government  of  the  world;  breathing  nothing  else  but  peace,  love, 
good  will  and  kindness  from  God  to  man,  and  from  man  to  man;  and  not  blood 
and  cruelty  like  priestcraft  has  in  most  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  for  gain  to 
priests.  And  I  cannot  see  why  I  should  not  as  fully  believe  in  all  Jesus  did 
and  taught,  as  what  Cicero,  Pliny,  Virgil,  Homer,  or  Josephus  did  and  taught, 
whose  writings  have  come  down  to  us....  and  more  so,  because  Christ  is  not  the 
writer  of  his  own  history,  but  the  united  history  of  four  men  who  were  eye  wit- 
nesses of  the  facts,  who  suffered  hardships,  faced  dangers,  suffered  loss  and  died 
in  defence  of  what  they  taught  and  wrote...  which,  though  they  somewhat  disa- 
gree in  their  history,  yet  that  disagreement  is  but  the  better  proof  of  the  autho- 
rity of  their  several  accounts  of  his  transactions,  for  the  only  difference  is  in 
mode  of  expression,  and  omissions  and  additions,  and  shews  plainly  they  did 
not  copy  one  from  another,  and  that  no  four  men  on  earth  could  have  compiled 
a  fabulous  history  to  have  agreed  in  so  many  particulars,  but  must  have  been  eye 
witnesses  of  the  facts  recorded. ...for  if  false,  they  being  cotemporary  must  have 
known  it;  if  true,  surely  it  is  to  be  expected  there  would  be  some  difference  in 
the  relation  of  facts.  On  the  publication  of  the  life  of  Christ  we  find  no  histo- 
ries, either  sacred  or  profane,  daring  to  dispute  the  facts,  for  these  things  were 
loo  notorious  among  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  in  town  and  country,  to  be  dispu- 
ted....and  if  they  did  dispute,  miracles  were  wrought  in  confirmation  of  these 
truths,  to  the  stopping  the  mouths  of  gainsayers....as  said  the  Jewish  magistrates, 
a  notable  miracle  has  been  done  by  these  men  and  we  cannot  deny  it. ...and  God 
bearing  the  apostles  witness  with  divers  signs  and  wonders  and  gifts  of  the  Ho- 
ly Ghost,  stopped  the  mouths  of  gainsayers;  while  their  clothing,  manner  of 
fare,  reception  in  town  and  country,  as  well  as  general  and  daily  conduct,  prov- 
ed they  were  not  craft  men  in  woolen  blue. 

This  poor  Jew,  Jesus  by  name,  commenced  his  ministry  in  the  land  of  Judea 
without  education;  which  should  prove  to  us  his  religion  is  not  a  religion  of  ed- 
ucation...without  wealth,  then  his  religion  is  not  a  religion  of  wealth.  ...without 
missionary  society  funds,  without  the  aid  of  the  rich  priests,  scribes,  pharisees, 
or  rulers  of  the  Jews.  ...without  the  aid  of  the  schools,  or  the  patronage  of  law, 
kings,  or  statesmen... nor  with  sword,  like  Mahomet.. .or  law,  or  fear  of  prisons, 
fires,  gibbets,  banishments,  confiscation  of  goods,  or  death,  like  the  Pope,  or 
.  High  Churcn  of  England...  nor  as  the  craft  men  of  heathen  gods  and  goddesses, 
with  persecution  jfaPaul  for  fear  of  the  danger  of  losing  the  sale  of  silver 
shrines. ..But,  in  that  low,  humble,  reasoning,  persuasive,  gentle  and  peaceable 
disposition  of  the  gospel  spirit,  that  breathes  peace  on  earth,  good  will  towards 
iri3n  or  even  to  enemies,  like  God  in  his  providence  sending  rain  on  the  just  and 
unjust,  giving  hfe»  health  and  blessing  to  all.  And  thus  commenced  establish- 
ing Christianity,  upon  conduct  and  principles  as  foreign  to  priestcraft  as  north  is 
to  south;  for  proof  of  which,  1  beg  you  to  read  the  New  Testament.. ..for  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  Christ  has  neither  monej',  learning,  honor,  titles,  nor  wealth  for 
its  support,  and  of  course  there  is   nothing  to  make  a  craft  of... *o  Christ's  reli- 

fion  is  not  a  religion  of  craft,  but  ungodly  priests  have   often  made  a  craft  of  it. 
'or  the  sublimity  and  morality  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  carried   conviction  to 


m 

the  hearts  of  enemies,  of  their  righlness  and  fitness  to  benefit  men  here  and  here- 
after, as  well  as  the  peace  and  good  of  society;  and  not  like  priestcraft,  that 
spreads  uproar  and  confusion  in  cities,  and  cruelty  and  desolation  in  nations.. .for 
although  these  things  followed  wherever  the  religion  of  Jesus  came,  it  was  not 
the  effects  nor  the  disposition  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  that  done  it.. .but  was 
because  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  upset  to  the  very  foundation  all  craft  in  reli- 
gion, for  it  admits  it  not.  Thus  when  the  Romish  priests  introduced  their 
priestcraft,  blood  flowed  in  torrents,  because  there  were  some  men  on  earth  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus  that  protested  against  the  introduction  of  this  new  craft  of 
Popes  afld  priests  trading  in  religion.  Equally  so  when  the  High  Church  of 
England  by  her  priests,  king,  and  parliament  introduced  their  law  priestcraft... 
there  were  some  in  that  country  that  did  possess  this  disinterested,  world-loosing 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ;  arid  protesting  against  it,  prisons  and  flames  were  their 
lot... .this  did  not  flow  from  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  from  the  craft  men 
like  Demetrius,  who  was  afraid  of  the  loss  of  his  wealth  by  his  craft.  Just  so 
now  in  our  times,  the  introduction  of  missionary  crafts  has  made  a  terrible  hub- 
bub in  towns,  country  and  church,  and  missionaries  say  it  is  the  opposers  that 
have  done  it.... I  say,  with  the  independence  of  that  liberty  of  conscience  bought 
with  blood,  they  are  false  charges  of  those  that  fear  for  their  craft. ..for  the  case 
is  the  same,  there  are  yet  some  men  on  earth  that  possess  the  religion  of  the 
humble  Jesus,  and  preach  for  Jesus'  sake  and  not  for  money's  sake,  and  whose 
daily  conduct  proves  they  are  not  craft  men.. .  and  those  that  roar  out,  infidel,  igno- 
rant, weak,  fools,  or  it  is  for  want  of  sense,  such  fellows  as  these  are  men  of  craft; 
and  nothing  is  wanting  but  law  on  their  side,  and  then  like  Demetrius,  Popes, 
priests  of  England  and  America,  for  prisons,  flames  and  hanging,  and  roaring 
out  our  craft  is  in  danger,  kill  these  heretics  and  do  God  and  the  world  ser- 
vice. Now  to  convince  any  man  that  such  cruel,  bloody  craft  men  do  not  pos- 
sess the  spirit  of  Christ  or  his  doctrines,  listen  to  specimens  of  his  doctrine.. ..to 
his  followers:  I  say  unto  you,  love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you 
and  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you. ...and  for  what? 
that  you  may  be  the  children  of  your  father  which  is  in  heaven.  And  again.... 
hear  and  understand. ...whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  you 
even  so  unto  them.  Did  Demetrius  do  so?  Did  the  pharisees  do  so?  Did  the 
priests  of  Rome,  Spain,  France,  England,  or  America,  that  have  robbed 
the  purses  of  negroes,  widows  and  men,  and  imprisoned  and  burnt  thousands  to 
death,  act  up  to  these  suhjime  and  peace-making  doctrines?  No,  my  audience... 
fallen  nature  possesses  no  such  a  spirit  we  know,  from  what  we  feel  within;  nor 
does  it  possess  even  an  inclination  to  act  according  to  those  doctrines,  more  espe- 
cially when  gain  or  self-interest  is  at  stake.  And  I  tell  you,  there  never  was 
nor  never  will  be,  a  covetous  craft  man  that  ever  did  or  will  possess  this  heaven- 
born  disposition;  it  is  alone  in  the  regenerate  soul,  and  not  in  men  of  craft. 
These  doctrines  of  Christ  are  short,  easy  to  be  understood,  and  no  man  can  ques- 
tion if  acted  up  to,  that  their  advantages  both  to  civil  and  religious  society  most 
be  unspeakably  great... hence  it  was  said,  never  man  spake  like  this  man;  no, 
neither  Moses,  Seneca,  nor  Cato,  in  all  their  lessons  of  morality. 

But,  my 'hearers,  I  have  no  doubt  already  wearied  you,  and  therefore  shall 
hasten  to  a  conclusion.  1  call  upon  you  this  day,  that  are  readers  of  the  New 
Testament,  to  say,  in  defence  of  the  honor  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  doctrine  and 
apostles,  as  well  as  the  Christian  religion  in  its  primitive  state,  whether  he  was 
a  craft  man  or  not?  whether  you  remember  one  instance  in  his  life,  or  precept, 
that  will  shew  any  thing  like  a  craft,  or  gain,  or  that  even  smells  of  a 
scheme  to  get  money?  1  call  upon  you  to  say,  if  you  do  not  think  he 
could  have  made  a  great  craft  of  his  preaching,  his  miracles,  his  cures,  or  even 


the  sight  of  himself?  You  know  he  could....  but  you  know  also  the  history  of  his 
life  shows  he  did  not.     All  was  free,  all  was  willingly,  only  living  on  the  volun- 
tary charity  of  the  world....  Susannah  and  others,  and   Simon    the   pharisee,  ad- 
ministering to  his  necessities,  without  hired  beggars,  society   formers,   or  sub-  ; 
scription   runners,    to  create   funds  to  send    him  or  support  him  as  a  preacher  ] 
while  in  the  world;  and  would  sooner  work  a  miracle  to  get  money  to  pay  his 
tax;  than  be  a  craft  man.      What  shall  I  say  of  John  the  Baptist?     In  those  days 
came  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea;  the  same  John 
had  his  clothing  of  camel's  hair,  (coarse  stuff,)   and   a  leathern   girdle  about  his 
loins... (and  not  boots  and  broadcloth,  and  silver-headed   canes  and  gold  watch- 
chains,  often  the  effects  of  scheme-craft  on    the   weak  and  credulous)....  and  his 
meat  was  locusts  and  wild  honey.     Is  there,   my  audience,  found   in   the   New 
Testament, any  thing  like  craft  in  this  first  gospel  minister?     You  know  there  is 
<iot.     Next  we  come  to  the  apostles,  Paul,  Peter,  James  and   John;  and   upon 
examination  of  their  epistles,  as  to  doctrine,  practices  and  exhortations,  is  there 
any  thing  like  forming  societies  for  to  raise  money   outside  of  the  church  of 
God?     Are  there  any  exhortations  to  that  effect?     Are  there  any  beggars,  sod* 
eties,  or  subscription  runners  among  the  Jews,  to   send  the   gospel  to  the   hea- 
then?    Is  there  any  forming  societies,  begging,  funding,  and  dividing  thereby, 
among  the  apostles?     Are  there  any  schemes  laid    by   them,  to  bring  them  in 
money?     Do  they  seek  to  have  laws  passed   to  give  them  salaries?     Do    they 
gny,  if  you  will  give   me  so  much,  I  Will  preach  for  you?     Oh  no,  these  are  all 
the  marks  of  craft  men,  and  not  the  marks  of  Christ's  ministers,  as  you  may  ea- 
sily see... ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake,  not  for  filthy  lucre  sake... these 
hands  have  ministered  to  my  necessities,  I  will  most  gladly  spend  and  be  spent 
for  you;  I  am  ready  to  preaeh  the  gospel  to  you  that  are  at  Rome  also.. ..and  for 
his    name's    sake  they    went  forth,   taking  nothing  of  the  Gentiles.     And  al- 
though  Paul   received  a   gift  from    the    church  at  Philippi,  yet  he   laid   the 
foundation  and  built  up  that  church... Lydia  and   the  jailor  the  first  converts... 
and  this  was  a  church  that  knew  and  did  her  duty.     Let  him  that  is  taught  in, 
the  word  communicate  to  him  that  teaches  in  all  good  things.... and  in  this  way 
has  the  Lord  ordained  that  they  that  preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gos- 
pel, by  the  voluntary  charity  of  the  church  and  world,  and   not   by  scheming 
and  begging  craft  men,  lying,  and  cheating  the  public,  promising  to   do  one 
thing  with   their  money  and  do  another.     But  is  there  any  thing  among  the 
apostles,  in  life,  conduct,  or  doctrine,  that  has  even  a  shew  of  scheming   priest- 
craft for  gain,  as  in  these  days,  by  every  stratagem  that  the  ingeuuity  of  craft  j 
men  can  devise?     You  know,  my  hearers,  neither  their  conduct  nor  doctrines, 
as  given  us  in  the  epistles,  show  such  marks  as  those  of  a  scheming  craft  man.... 
no,  they  disclaim  if,  for  hear  Paul:  supposing  gain  is  godliness,  from  such  turn 
away.. .and  they  shall  make  merchandize  of  you,  and  run  greedily  after  the  er- 
ror of  Balaam...  these  are  the  marks  of  craft  men,  given  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
don't  they  fit  priests  in  conduct  in  these  days,  is  for  you  to  judge. 

Lastly,  can  you  find  any  thing  like  money-craft  among  the  prophets,  from 
Enoch  to  the  close  of  prophecy?  Doth  not  Elisha  put  the  mark  of  his  disdain 
on  moneyed  religion,  by  enstamping  the  leprosy  on  Gaharia,  who,  made  a  craft 
of  the  miracle  of  his  master?  I  now  challenge  the  world  to  shew  any  marks  of 
craft  on  the  prophets,  John  the  Baptist,  Christ,  or  his  apostles,  or  the  first  propa- 
gators of  Christianity.  Come  forth,  if  such  marks  are  to  be  found... I  am  ready  to 
meet  you  in  the  field.  And  if  you  cannot.  ..say  by  what  authority  do  you  form 
societies,  beg  money... oh,  ye  priests,  ye  crafty,  scheming  priests,  to  get  money  by 
all  the  shameful  schemes  of  the  day.,  and  under  what  master  you  serve,  God  or 
devil?     For  if  the  proceedings  of  missionary  conduct  is  to   be   found    in   the 


S3 

scriptures,  either  in  begging  money  or  scheming  to  get  it,  I  am  a  fool  in  chris- 
tian politics.  I  challenge  any  man,  from  Canada  to  Ptmsacota,  to  show  by  the 
scriptures  any  marks  of  craft  in  the  conduct  of  the  prophets,  Christ  or  his  apos- 
tles; or  shew  any  appearance  of  scheming  and  devising  plans  to  get  money  by 
selling  memberships  into  societies,  begging  or  trading  in  religion,  for  gain  to 
themselves  or  others.  But  that  they  lived  on  their  own  labor  and  the  voluntary 
eharity  of  their  brethren  and  the  world,  this  is  a  God's  truth.  And  the  religion 
of  these  days  is  the  reverse  of  their  conduct,  and  so  must  be  a  craft. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  peaceable,  gentle,  kind,  humble,  world-loosing, 
God-depending,  benevolent... and  in  its  doctrine,  conduct  and  spirit,  breathes  no- 
thing but  peace  and  good  will  to  all  mankind, ..and  has  not,  nor  cannot,  nor  ne- 
ver did,  nor  is  not,  the  author  of  that  blood  and  persecution  and  suffering,  which 
has  filled  the  world  under  the  color  of  religion.  But  those  dreadful  sufferings 
have  in  all  countries  originated  with,  and  been  carried  on  by  priestcraft,  whe- 
ther pagan?  heathen  or  christian... .priestcraft  has  been  the  sole  cause  for  wealth, 
and  craft  men  in  all  countries  and  in  all  ages  are  jusrly  chargeable  with  the  sor- 
rows of  the  nations,  and  the  blood  that  has  been  shed  about  religion.. .and  not 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  its  precepts,  spirit,  or  real  followers. ..but  by 
craft  men,  who  borrow  the  garments  of  religion  to  hide,  cover,  and  under  which 
robe  of  innocency  to  perform  all  their  cursed  crafts  and  cruelty  on  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  men.  Proof  enough.. .witness  the  craft  of  Demetrius,  raising  the 
uproar  in  Ephesus;  for  the  town  clerk  clears  Paul  and  his  companion  of  any 
charge... witness  the  craft  of  the  soothsaying  damsel,  that  brought  her  master 
much  gain;  it  was  that  priestcraft  that  threw  Paul  and  Silas  into  prison. ..witness 
the  priestcraft  of  the  pharisees,  persecuting  and  killing  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the 
judge  on  the  trial  said,  I  find  no  fault  in  this  man.. ..witness  Paul  with  letters  ip 
his  pocket  from  the  chief  priest  making  havoc,  killing  men  and  women. ..witness 
the  pagan  persecutions,  coming  from  the  pagan  priest;  read  the  letter  of  Governor 
Piloy  of  Bethina,  to  the  Emperor.. .witness  the  craft  of  the  priests  of  the  Romish 
church.. .witness  the  priests  in  Paris,  with  crucifixes  in, their  hands,  stimulating 
the  Roman  Catholics  to  murder  sixty  thousand  in  a  night.. ..witness  these  crafty 
priests  in  Spain,  building  and  filling  the  hellish  Inquisition,  those  abodes  of 
darkness  and  dungeons  of  human  misery,  with  the  victims  of  their  wrath... 
witness  these  men  of  craft,  for  fear  of  the  danger  of  their  craft  in  England,  im- 
prisoning, burning,  hanging,  drowning,  and  banishing  the  innocent  opposers  of 
their  craf:;  sparing  neither  age  nor  sex,  but  wreaking  all  their  cruelty  on  them 
.-..witness  craft  men  before  the  revolution  in  America,  stimulating  and  exciting 
the  magistrates  of  New-England  and  Virginia  to  whip,  imprison,  fine  and  ban- 
ish men  and  women  for  heresy,  or  because  they  would  not  conform  or  pay  their 
money  to  craft  men.  Time  would  fail  me  to  cite  more  evidences,  for  a  thou- 
sand others  from  different  ages  and  countries  could  be  brought  to  prove  that  all 
these  evils,  and  ten  thousand  times  as  much  more,  have  originated  with  money- 
hunting  and  money-getting  priests;  they  and  they  only  were  the  sole  cause  of 
all  law  religion,  blood,  and  cruel  tyranny  in  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  not 
the  religion  and  world-loosing  followers  of  Jesus  Christ;  for  proof  of  which  I 
have  the  scriptures  and  histories  of  nations  to  establish  the  facts.  Then,  my 
audience,  if  the  schemes  of  the  day  is  a  craft  of  money-hunting  and  money-get- 
ting priests,  I  have  put  the  glass  to  your  face  to  see  what  all  this  will  end  in, 
unless  you  resist  betimes  and  save  the  liberty  of  your  country.  For  I  tell  you, 
as  in  the  presence  of  my  God,  that  the  rejigion  of  Jesus  Christ  needs  no  law  for 
its  support,  nor  never  had  any,  though  craft  men  have  called  their  religion  by 
that  name.  And  I  tell  you  also,  that  craft  men  must  and  will,  if  it  is  to  be  had, 
have  law  on  their  side  to  support  their  craft. ..for  all  crafts  are  in  danger  where 


24 

free  inquiry  is  granted.  Therefore  we  hear  the  cry,  our  craft  is  in  danger,  we 
shall  lose  our  wealth;  therefore  have  these  money-hunting  craft  men  in  all  coun- 
tries cried  out,  ye  men  of  Israel  help.. .help,  king... help,  emperor.. .help,  gover- 
nor... help,  magistrate.. .help,  legislators.. .help,  Congress,  our  craft  is  in  danger. 
And  that  moment  any  of  these  help,  they  put  the  dagger  in  hand  to  stab  his 
brother,  and  establish  priestcraft  in  the  earth,  and  stand  up  against  the  Lord  and 
his  cause;  and  shut  the  door  against  the  messengers  of  heaven,  that  bring  the  ti- 
dings of  peace  and  good  will  towards  men;  and  maintain  on  the  labors  of  poor 
farmers  and  mechanics  a  set  of  blood  hounds  in  the  world. 

Now  my  respectful  and  attentive  fellow-citizens,  I  tell  you  that  it  is  my  can- 
did opinion,  that  the  independence  and  liberty  of  our  country  is  in  more  danger 
at  this  lime  from  priestcraft,  than  it  has  ever  been  since  the  revolution  from  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  or  3ny  past  or  present  source  whatever... and  I  wish  to 
remind  you,  that  united  we  stand,  divided  we  fall,  a  prey  to  the  tyranny  of  kings 
or  priests.  Yea,  if  you  suffer  the  priests  by  law  to  ride  on  your  back,  you  will 
soon  I  assure  you,  have  to  carry  a  king  behind  him. ..for  do  you  not  know  that 
our  forefathers,  before  tiie  revolution,  had  to  wag  along  with  both  king  and 
priest.  And  look  at  Spain,  France,  and  England,  wearing  the  chains  of  both 
these  tyrants,  for  I  tell  you,  that  craft  men  and  kings  ride  the  same  horse  to 
poverty.  And  in  order  to  save  and  perpetuate  that  most  blessed  and  best  inhe- 
ritance of  civil  and  religious-  liberty,  left  us  by  bleeding  fathers,  keep  Con- 
gress to  the  text  book  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  church  of  God  to  the  letter  of 
the  New  Testament;  and  when  either  is  perverted  to  self-interest,  and  to  mean 
any  thing  and  every  thing,  to  the  interest  of  statesmen  or  priests,  resist,  as  the 
people  is  the  sovereign  of  the  country.  For  if  you  lose  sight  of  these  polar 
stars,  and  do  not  often  refer  to  first  principles,  we  sink  into  the  whirlpool  of  ty- 
ranny like  other  nations.  Be  jealous  of  jour  rights  and  liberty,  while  you  have 
got  them;  for  if  lost  it  will  be  your  own  fault,  and  when  gone  perhaps  gone  for- 
ever. And  if  you  should  carelessly  and  negligently  let  scheming  priests  take 
them  from  you,  you  will  deserve  to  he  accursed  by  your  dead  fathers,  and  by 
future  generations  unborn.  Oh,  look  abroad  and  behold  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  in  tyranny  but  ourselves;  and  oh,  think  how  nigh  liberty  was,  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  banished  from  the  earth. ..see  only  a  little  band  of 
patriotr,  threQ  thousand  strong,  whose  bosoms  were  fanned  with  the  heavenly 
flame  of  liberty  or  death,  under  the  leading  of  ihe  god-like  Washington  cross- 
ing the  icy  Delaware  and  marching  up  the  hill  of  snowy  Trenton  to  make  now, 
as  it  were,  the  last  struggle  to  plead  her  cause  against  oppressing  tyrants. ..for 
this  was  the  crisis  of  American  independence.. .this  victory  gave  fresh  life  to 
whigs,butto  tories  and  priestcraft  a  lasting  blow  at  the  root.  I  call  upon  you, 
therefore,  by  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  liberty,  by  the  tears  of  weeping  or- 
phans and  widows,  and  by  the  blood-stained  roads,  fields,  and  decks  of  ships, 
and  the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying  heroes  of  our  country,  never,  no 
never,  no  never  to  suffer  a  law  religion  of  any  kind,  however  foreign. 

I  leave  you  now,  my  audience,  to  cempare,  reflect,  and  improve  on  what  I 
have  said;  praying  that  God,  that  manages  the  destinies  of  nations,  to  perpetu- 
ate the  independence  of  our  country,  which  was  bought  at  so  dear  a  rate. 

\)ji  Second  Edition— Free Frcss—Tarboro'. 


